Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon.

A bright light filtered through my eyelids and I slowly opened them while yawning. Feels like I've been out for awhile…

I blinked sleepily, and two bright, curious, brown eyes stared right at me. Wide-eyed and paralyzed with fear, I could only believe I was dreaming about giants. But when the boy with raven hair spoke, I instantly recognized his voice, albeit a higher tone than what I was used to.

"Hey Mom? It's a Poochyena, right?"

I started a bit at what he said, and cocked my head to the side in contemplation when I felt something soft and silky hit my forehead. I paused with furrowed brows, looked down at my hands and instead found paws.

WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?

I stood on all fours, and maneuvered myself in order to try to take a look at my appearance. I had gray fur with black paws, and finally noticed my small black snout. I wagged a fluffy tail and moved my ears to get a feel for them. I sat down as realization hit me, and immediately got lost in thought.

How…how is this even possible? I have GOT to be dreaming. There's no freakin' way…just…no…

I froze completely, which obviously concerned the young Ketchum. Somebody lifted me from the blanket I was on, and I numbly looked down and registered an incubation case for an egg. I looked back up and recognized the woman holding me as Delia Ketchum.

"Aren't you such a cutie? Though I've never heard or seen a Poochyena with blue eyes unless they were shiny. But it seems to fit you!" She smiled sweetly while petting my head, and I sensed that she meant no harm. But she only existed in the anime. Which wasn't real…

I looked back to the ground, and she carefully put me down. I stood straight-legged for a split second before passing out from shock.

~/o/~

I quivered on the ground, praying that this would end quickly. The Ursaring grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and held me up high. My eyes grew large and round as I stared death in the face, and the giant bear roared, causing a whimper to escape my throat as I shook uncontrollably. I heard a whistling sound before being thrown to the ground by a small explosion. I quickly looked up to find the Ursaring facing a new opponent, a Lucario. I immediately clambered away from the area into some bushes where I could watch the battle safely. However, no other attacks came as a human walked in between the Pokémon with his hands up. I couldn't hear what was being said, but he seemed to calm down the angry bear, whom finally decided to leave. I sighed a breath of relief to live another day, but then I sensed a couple of strong Aura presences walking toward me. I shrunk back into the foliage, trying to hide myself from sight. But I didn't realize that they could sense me as well, and the human knelt down with his hand out, palm down in front of the bush I was in.

"Don't worry, Poochyena. We promise we're not here to hurt you. The Ursaring has left, and we only wish to tend to your injuries."

I bared my teeth at the human and growled softly, trying to scare them away. But the human only shifted closer. At that point I felt threatened and bit his hand softly, but only as a warning. He winced slightly, but then a small smile appeared on his face as he picked me up. I struggled with all my might, but could not escape for exhaustion set in and I passed out.

~/o/~

Sometime later, I woke up on a cool, soft examination table. Standing up and shaking myself off, I replayed my dream and noticed how it was different this time, but decided that now was not the time to think about it. I had a bigger problem on my hands…or paws.

I guess this ain't a dream, then.

I judged the distance to the floor, pounced off, and landed lightly and safely on the tile.

Huh. That was easy.

A door was open on the other side of the room, so I wandered out and searched for anything that could show my reflection clearly. A couple of rooms down I found a floor length mirror and steeled myself for what I was about to see. I opened my eyes to a Poochyena staring at me, but a couple things stood out. For one, my right ear flopped. Second, normal Poochyena have red and yellow eyes, but mine were blue and white like a human's, as I vaguely remember Delia mentioning. However, my thoughts were interrupted when I felt myself lifted off the ground by a pair of careful but strong hands. Of course this startled me to no end and I struggled briefly against my captor, but once he spoke I stiffened up immediately.

"Hello, Poochyena."

My head whipped up towards the voice, cracking my neck. My eyes widened again, and my nose twitched.

"Don't worry I won't hurt you. I'm only here to help," said Professor Oak. I never stopped to think about where I could be, especially after I had fainted back at the Ketchum residence.

Okay, Professor Oak is not a bad guy…I should be able to trust him.

I looked up at his kind, dark eyes and gave a couple of tentative shakes of my tail before I rested my head on his arm. He brought me into the living room where Ash and his mom waited, and I patiently waited for Oak to put me down. Ash approached me cautiously with worry in his eyes as my paws touched the ground, and I knew that I owed him comfort. He knelt down with his hand out, palm down, as one should approach a dog.

"Hello Poochyena. I'm Ash. I hope we can be friends!"

Suddenly the dream I had flashed in my mind briefly as Ash had assumed the same position as Sir Aaron. I decided to sniff his hand to commit his scent to memory, and then licked his hand once while wagging my tail slowly as a sign of friendship. He smiled brightly and picked me up in a hug. A wave of joy and calm washed over me while something resonated within me as soon as contact was made, and I knew from that point forward our paths were intertwined.

A/N:
Yeah, I said weekly, but hey I finished it fairly quickly and I'd rather not forget about it. ...yay! /o/