Hi all! It's been a long time, but another story got stuck in my head.

Don't expect this to be dark like my other story, Fairy Survivor, as I don't believe that Pokémon stories should be dark and dreary. Expect more of a light-hearted adventure story.

I plan on posting a chapter every week, but there may be more or less every now and then. As such, a follow would be greatly appreciated!

Comments, constructive or otherwise (even just hating), are always fun to read. If you have something to say, share it!

With all that said, let's get started!

It began, as most fantastical tales do, with a dream.

A reoccurring dream where I lived the life of my childhood fantasy. Free to travel the world in wonderment, simply soaking in the serenity and beauty of nature around me. No responsibilities to shackle me down. No great task or looming threat to burden my spirit. Just me and my partner, following whatever path our feet take us down.

Frustratingly enough, I could never remember the identity of my partner; even when everything else was so clearly vivid.

I knew that I was in the world that my much younger self daydreamed of living in: the Pokemon world. I knew that I was traveling on a trainer's journey, facing down against one obstacle after another. I also knew that others doubted me, ridiculing the very idea of my success. However, more fiercely than anything else, I knew that my partner and I would tear down anything in our way. No amount of naysayers and doubters would turn us from our path. Our will was one, and it was unbreakable.

Which is all the more reason why I was so vexed about not remembering who that partner was!

It stands to reason that it was a Pokemon, but no amount of moaning and groaning, and straining my brain has helped me even narrow down the options.

No, my partner's identity remains a tauntingly stubborn blank.

This rings true even now.

But what is so special about now? After all, it wouldn't be much of a story if it ended with just a dream.

No, it certainly did not end with a dream. In fact, I only told such a mundane tale to set the stage for the ridiculous, yet wondrous circumstances I now find myself in.

After about a week of continuously dreaming about my otherworldly adventures in the vast world of Pokemon, I began to notice something.

My slumber began to extend past when I would wake up.

Now, I know what you are thinking. That doesn't make sense. How can it still be called slumber if you have woken up already?

I agree, but that is truly the only way I can explain it. You see, it was a sensation where my dream had ended and I could see my room, but I could also see my body, still sleeping! It was as though I was floating above my body, merely in spirit form, looking down upon myself!

The first time it happened, I was barely an inch above my body's face, staring at my lidded eyes. Had I still been in my body, I might have had a heart attack. Furthermore, I couldn't move my spirit one iota, so I could only panic in place. It ended after less than a minute, though it felt like hours.

The second time I was suspended a good foot above my soulless body, and I could slightly turn my head. Now an experienced soul-walker, I was only slightly (very) terrified! This time, it lasted nearly five minutes, so I still fell into a panic by the end of it.

This brings us to the third time. In other words, right now. This time, I can move my body freely. Well, I would be able to move freely, were I not being held in place.

Looking down at my stomach, I see massive gray fingers wrapped tightly around my torso. It looks like a human hand with a winter glove on, but the size is far beyond what any human could have. After all, at 6'1, 205 pounds, I'm a pretty big guy. A hand that can wrap around my waist is a large one indeed.

My stomach lurches and I feel a sticky lump of pure terror rising in my chest.

I knew some weird stuff was going on, but what the hell is this? Is this a demon? The Devil? Is my soul being taken? I've never been super pious, but aren't you at least supposed to wait until I die for that?

Damn it! I've always been an avid follower of the practice of not looking at scary things in your room at night. You know, hiding under the covers when you hear a noise, or squeezing your eyes shut after a creepy-looking shadow flickers on the ceiling. However, if I'm going to get scammed out of my soul before I even kick the bucket, you better believe I'm going to look at the impatient bastard's face!

With a herculean effort, I begin to turn my head to look at my soul-napper's ugly mug. Then I look forward again and take a deep breath, cause this is some seriously scary shit. Now, before I can psych myself out again, I rapidly twist my head back and peek at the being behind me.

A massive gray face with bulging yellow eyes and a jagged yellow mouth awaits me. I can only be glad for my new discovery that souls aren't able to defecate, as I would have soiled my pants otherwise. Why on Earth is its mouth so wide?!

…Wait.

Those eyes aren't actually looking at anything, and that mouth is just a striii… nope never mind the mouth just moved! Pretty sure the eyes actually aren't real though

In fact, a floating red orb in what I had first thought to be a hat seems to be what's focused on me… Holy shit, it's a Dusknoir!

What in the name of all that is holy is going on here?

I'm trying to freak out here, but my soul can't make any noise, so I'm just kind of flailing around in its hand. The red orb narrows into what I can only assume is a squint, and it starts to pull me towards it.

The absurdity of the situation has helped to distract me from my fear, so I can at least think properly again. I'm trying to remember everything I can about Dusknoir, which isn't too hard, considering it's one of my favorite ghost types.

I know that Dusknoir can pull people to the spirit world, which is essentially the Pokemon world's equivalent of an afterlife. I think it usually does this to dead souls that haven't passed on, but it can also pull out a living person's soul. That, I remember distinctly from the episode where a Dusknoir straight-up kills Oak because he said he wanted to see the spirit world. Obviously, Oak didn't actually die, which tells me that they can also put souls back into bodies. I think I remember something about them guiding lost spirits too.

While I struggle to remember anything that might be relevant to my absurd circumstances, my thoughts are interrupted by a single, fierce tug that sends me up and over the Gripper Pokemon's head. Only now do I see the gaping, black hole in the very fabric of the universe that had been floating above Dusknoir's head.

I guess seeing a real-life Pokemon was just too distracting, because how in the hell did I miss that?!

Anyways, the Dusknoir has let me go at this point, having already gone through with the action of yeeting my helpless spirit into the distortion in space. As soon as I enter the dimensional tear, images flash in and out of my vision, far too fast to keep up and far too fleeting to remember. All I know for a fact is that there were untamed wildernesses and strange creatures innumerable.

Finally, my vision settled on a forest, thick with vegetation and showing no signs of human interference. Well, other than the still corpse of a young boy, he just looks out of place, to be honest.

More than a little freaked out, I look around for the Dusknoir and almost feel lost when I don't see it. After all, what do I even do as a bodiless soul in a seemingly foreign world? If it's going to drag me into an eldritch portal, the least it could do is take some responsibility.

"Noir"

As that thought comes to my mind, an inhuman voice behind me turns my head. Just in time to see a massive gray palm sumo slap me upside the head, shoving my entire soul straight down into the boy's corpse.

"Uhgg" I let out a groan that carries all the pain of my splitting headache. "Why do these dreams just keep getting weirder?"

My tired mumbling sounds awfully high-pitched, but the headache and drowsiness don't allow room for me to pick up on that. Instead, I sluggishly sit up and put my head in my hands. The constant pounding isn't going to make for a pleasant day, that much is certain. Thankfully, it's the weekend, so I don't have to go out at all, and nobody will bother me now that I live alone. Time to catch another hour of sleep and hope the problem is gone when I wake up.

I let myself fall weightlessly back, only to give an undignified yelp when my head bounces off what feels like a rock. Once again, I spend some time curled up with my head cradled in my arms. That certainly was not my pillow, and now that I've quite literally been knocked awake, I can tell that I am not on my bed, nor am I in my room. Peeking out from my protective arm cradle, I confirm that it was indeed a rock that my head hit. That, combined with the fact that there is grass all around said rock, heavily implies that I am outside.

Why?

Ignoring all my current ailments, I explode up to my feet and wildly look around myself. My jaw drops in shock when I see my surroundings.

I'm currently in the middle of what has to be the thickest, most untamed forest I have ever seen in my life. Not only is there greenery and massive trees as far as I can see in any direction, but the woods are truly alive with a cacophony of noises.

It almost feels as though I am out of place in such a location. Not because I have no idea what the hell is going on (that too), but because this feels like a place so ruled by nature that a human shouldn't encroach upon it. Though, beneath the panic at being in an unknown wilderness, beneath the strangeness of feeling out of place, beneath everything else; I can't help but notice a truly serene calm in the core of my being. This place, this atmosphere, this beauty, this serenity; being here feels better than any city or building I've ever been in before. It almost feels as though my soul has finally found the comfort of home.

I take a deep breath and am just about ready to calm down and begin attempting to ascertain my whereabouts when I see a spot of orange on a nearby tree trunk. My vision focuses in on it, and everything clicks.

Any respectable fan of the Pokemon franchise would be able to recognize a Weedle at a glance, and this oversized horned caterpillar is certainly a Weedle.

Seeing that is all it really takes. My dream must not have been a dream after all. A Dusknoir truly came to my room through a portal and launched me into a new world. It only makes sense that this new world would be the one Dusknoir came from: the Pokemon World.

It feels odd to accept this so readily, but with all the weird stuff that's been happening to me this past week, I don't even feel like questioning it. The only thing I would ask is why me, but I suppose that doesn't really matter now, does it? Besides, only Dusknoir and Arceus could probably answer me, and how do I expect to ask them anything? No, my best option at this point is to accept the fact that I am simply now in the world of Pokemon, and I am likely here to stay.

Though, if my Dusknoir dream was real, what of the corpse? I'd rather not stumble upon a dead child as my first Pokemon adventure.

A quick scan of the area comes up empty, but I can't help but notice how large everything seems. Even the Weedle, which I don't think should be any bigger than a foot, looks massive when I stick my hand in front of me to measure.

…Wait.

WHY IS MY HAND SO TINY?!

My hand is dainty and pale, and my arm is like a twig. The lost musculature from daily dedication to protein and powerlifting nearly brings me to tears. Instead, I merely fall to my hands and knees in defeat, the headache coming back in full force. I already suspect that I know what happened.

In Pokemon, parents are absurdly irresponsible and you start your journey as a trainer at like 10. This means that to start an adventure like normal here, I would need to be a kid too. Thinking further on it, Dusknoir shoved my soul into that kid's corpse, didn't he?

Well, that's kinda morbid.

"Whelp, guess there's no use dwelling on it." I push myself up to my feet and try to look at myself as best I can.

I can't see my face, but I've got pale skin and spindly limbs, though my frame feels large enough to put on some good mass in the future. I'm currently wearing clothes so torn up that they're barely holding themselves together on my body. This includes a pair of black jeans and a light brown hoodie. Some brown hiking boots complete the look and are thankfully the only things in good shape still. Trailing down to my shoulders, I can also see some light ash-brown hair. A quick, and slightly worried, pat down tells me that I am still a male though.

Said pat down also revealed to me some crucial information about my current possessions. Which is that I have absolutely none beyond my clothes. Part of me was wishing for a Pokeball to be in my pocket or something, but that must have been the excessively greedy part, cause I've got nothing.

BOOOOOM*

Before I have a chance to investigate anything else, an explosive noise sends a wave of air pressure through the forest.

BBZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT*

A furious buzzing sound follows it and my mind instantly goes to the Weedle from before. When I whip my head in its direction, I notice that the bugger's nowhere to be seen.

BBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTT*

The buzzing is louder, closer now. It sounds like there are more now than there were before. I think back to the early Viridian forest episodes of the Pokemon anime, and I briefly wonder if that's where I am before I remember how those Beedrill acted towards Ash and company. That memory gets me moving and I dash and dive into the nearby underbrush, safely out of sight.

BBBBBBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTT*

I get there just in time to see a small, brown quadrupedal figure dash through the clearing. Seconds later, a swarm of 3-foot-tall, drill-armed bees storm through in its wake. All of them are sending waves of what I can only assume to be pin missiles and poison stings in the direction of the fleeing brown figure.

They are gone as fast as they arrived, but I wait in my hiding spot a good 30 seconds after they've left, just in case. A good decision too, because shortly after those 30 seconds are up, a full pack of small brown figures, similar to the fleeing creature, stream through, seemingly chasing the action.

When I push myself back to my feet and into the clearing, I notice the blood and fur on the ground. I can't help but sigh deeply to myself, already knowing that my next course of action may be the least intelligent choice possible.

But what can I do, if I saw things right, this blood belongs to one of my all-time favorite Pokemon. I can't just leave him hurt like that, even if there realistically isn't much that I can do to help. Nonetheless, I'll do what I can. If I don't go, I won't even have the chance to do that.

With such foolish thoughts in mind, I set off after the two groups of Pokemon that came through. All I had to do was follow the trail of blood and poisonous needles.

"If this is going to get me killed, you better at least hang in there, little one." My mutters betray my lack of optimism.