Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, only transferred.
Andrew couldn't remember the last time he had a headache this bad. At least this meant skipping school might be an option. As his eyes opened, an overpowering brightness overcame him. Instinctively, his hands shot up to cover his face, but something about them felt off.
They felt cold and moist, which is the opposite of how hands should feel in the morning. Focusing, he realized that his whole body felt odd. Also, the blowing of the wind was very distracting.
Realizing something was very wrong, Andrew lowered his hands and slowly opened his eyes. He was not in his bed, his room, or even in his own home. There was only untouched nature stretching as far as his eyes could see.
Despite the pristine landscape, something felt off about it. The colors weren't the dull greens and browns of a forest. Instead, they were vibrant and attention-grabbing. It was cartoonish in nature. Andrew had to consider if he was even awake.
However, this was not a dream. Despite staying quiet, there was only stress and panic in his mind. How did he get here? Had he been kidnapped? Did he sleepwalk? Andrew desperately wanted to figure out what was going on.
He put his hand on the grass to push himself up from the ground. However, as soon as he caught a glimpse of it, he froze. This was not his hand.
The hand he stared at was flat, blue, and three-fingered. Was hand an accurate way to describe what Andrew saw? It seemed more reminiscent of the flipper of an animal.
The other damp, moist, hand, ran across his face. Only to find it devoid of human features. The only deviating features were the two orange gills that jutted out on the sides of his head.
Despite his situation, Andrew did his best to keep calm, he got up slowly, giving him a better view of his body. His skin was a light blue, the same as his hands. His stomach was coated in a vibrant orange.
The skin above his stomach was an even lighter, creamy blue. He could feel there were new parts of his body that were not there before, those being his new fins.
Something about this was familiar, he had seen this body before! After a minute of staring at the vibrant blue sky and thinking, the pieces clicked in his mind.
Am I the Pokemon Marshtomp?
It seemed ridiculous. Andrew considered himself to be a logical person. But he was no longer human, how could that be explained?
The world he was in may have not looked real, but was being magically transformed into a Marshtomp really the most logical explanation?
Whatever was going on could not be explained. The only thing he knew for sure was he went to sleep with one body and woke up with another.
As Andrew studied his surroundings further, he noticed a narrow dirt path in the distance. Without hesitation, he made his way to it.
When arriving, he noticed a sign mounted to a tree.
Grandeport and Welldeep Ocean 2 Miles
"I have a feeling I'm not on Earth anymore," he muttered.
Andrew laid out his options. Grandeport was likely a town or city. Which meant it had other people or Pokemon.
Maybe someone there could help him figure out what was going on and get him back home. However, this thought only posed more questions for Andrew. Would my parents still recognize me? Would they still want me like this? Would my friends still want to be around me? Would the government try to kidnap me? Can I ever go back to normal life?
He stopped himself, he was stranded in the middle of a forest with no food or water. This was his first time off the grid by himself, and he had virtually no survival skills. Finding civilization was the only reasonable option.
Andrew followed the direction of the sign and began walking down the path. It was strange to see the untouched surrounding nature. Growing up in the modern era meant that he rarely got to see a forest not tampered with by human interference.
As his stroll continued, the path began to deteriorate. It became progressively harder to differentiate from the twigs, stones, and fallen leaves on the forest floor. Eventually, the path seemed to disappear altogether, leaving Andrew yet again stranded in the middle of the forest.
"Crappy infrastructure, would it kill someone to clear some leaves every now and then?"
This got Andrew thinking, what technology was in this world? Has there been an industrial revolution? Or was he stuck in a place with primitive technology and knowledge of the world?
He hoped there would be some technology to help him get back home, or at least back into his own body. Living as a weird, bipedal fish creature with two tail fins did not sound appealing.
Andrew estimated he was a mile out from civilization. But that didn't matter if he did not know which direction to go. He stopped for a moment and sat down.
Two realizations came upon him. The first was that he just walked a mile without having eaten or drunk anything that day, and he was exhausted. The second was he could hear the faint noise of running water nearby.
Following the noise led to a narrow, lazy creek. The water had a brown tint and was riddled with rocks and leaves. However, Andrew was desperate for water. His skin which had been moist earlier was beginning to dry out.
Despite the color and debris, Andrew cupped his flippers and began drinking the water. It was not a pleasant experience, but the Marshtomp body would not allow dehydration. After several minutes of shoving water into his mouth, his body was satisfied.
He remembered the sign from earlier. Maybe the creek flowed into the ocean? With the path having become indiscernible from the forest floor, he could either follow the creek or wander aimlessly.
Lethargically, he followed the creek. Despite not having been awake for long, Andrew was already exhausted from the events of the day. He wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed and forget this ever happened.
After what felt like an eternity of trudging along the creek, the pristine, blue, ocean revealed itself.
To say it looked magnificent would be a vast understatement. He had never seen anything like it. The water was a pure, vibrant blue, to him it seemed perfectly handcrafted for swimming.
Andrew was not fully in control, if he was thinking rationally he would have remembered he had not swum in a long time. But his mind was complicit in his body's desire to immerse itself in the ocean.
He calmly stepped into the pure blue water, and it was an indescribable feeling. The amount of dopamine released throughout his body as he carelessly swam was beyond comprehension. There was a wide grin on Andrew's blue face as he swam farther and farther out from shore.
He was not thinking, guided by his fins and flippers pattering away at the water. Before he knew it he could barely see the land he had swam from out in the distance. It was only then Andrew realized how far out he had swum.
He became motionless as he transitioned onto his back, running back in his mind what had just been done. He had managed to swim about a mile in under ten minutes. He silently praised himself for something he had thought impossible.
However, praise turned to fear as the realization set in that he was a mile out in the ocean, alone. Andrew flipped back onto his stomach, aggressively thrashing against the now-unwelcoming waters.
But it was futile. He was using more and more energy to swim shorter and shorter distances, fighting the waves that threatened to consume him. With one final gasp, he sank beneath the sea.
He thought of his friends and family, the mundane life he had. The exciting one that would never be experienced. His eyes squeezed shut as the dissent continued.
Andrew was beginning to run out of air. He opened his eyes to take one last look at the ocean which had invited him in. Having accepted it would soon become his tomb.
As his beady orange eyes opened he saw the ocean in all its beauty. Colorful plants danced across the depths. Vibrant sands and minerals covered its floor creating a magnificent collage. Pokemon could be seen carelessly swimming in the distance.
However, when the surface air from his lungs was depleted, oxygen from the ocean filled its place. Andrew felt stupid, he was a water-type Pokemon. One with large protruding gills on the sides of his head. Of course, he was able to breathe underwater.
His new eyes worked well when submerged. It allowed perception with such precision never experienced by him before. His vision in the water was not just better than on land, but better than it was as a human.
Regaining his composure, Andrew allowed his body to guide him again. No such memories of being a skilled swimmer existed within him, but that did not matter. The water was no longer something to be feared. It had been mastered and was now within his control.
Despite the effective use of energy, exhaustion began to mount. Satisfied with the amount of swimming he had done, Andrew let himself sink to the bottom of the ocean. Above, the sun's light danced on the surface of the water. Tired, Andrew shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
—
Later in the day, two orange eyes opened on the seafloor. Groggily, Andrew swam up to the surface of the ocean. The sun's lower position in the sky revealed just how much time had passed. In the distance, he could see a town nestled at the base of the ocean.
The pattering commenced again as Andrew made his way toward civilization.
The transition onto land was unpleasant. The water was welcoming, to him it felt better than being wrapped in a million blankets. But the land had become boring, stiff, and mundane.
He could not help but feel exposed as he walked toward the town. The cool air blew against sensitive fins. Darkness was beginning to envelop the land. Andrew's walk toward the town became a sprint.
The first landmark noticed upon arrival was the large sign welcoming him to the town. It was colorful and illuminated by oil lamps. The next thing he noticed was the sheer abundance of pokemon.
There wasn't a human in sight, just a variety of pokemon going about their nightly routines. It was surreal seeing video game characters walking around the town as if it was completely normal, but to them this was normal.
Walking through the town allowed him to see the world from a whole new perspective, as everything seemed to tower above Andrew. The town folks' voices could be heard from all around. Blending into a symphony of yelling and laughter.
It was too much for him, the events of the day having caught up to Andrew. His heart pounded harder and harder. Sprinting in desperation, Andrew shoved a young cyndaquil out of his way in his effort to escape.
The noise began to deafen as his jog continued. A few feet away was a large tree stump. He sat down and rested his head on his flipper, recollecting the events of the day. It was hard to describe how he felt. Andrew was in no imminent danger, nothing had tried to hurt him.
But the sense of security that home brought was gone. He figured that he would be fending for himself. But there was a worry in the back of his mind, something was not right.
"Am I myself?"
It took him a moment to fully grasp his situation, but soon a growing wave of realization and despair crashed upon him.
"My humanity was stolen!"
The new body was blue, wet, and slimy. He stomped the ground out of frustration.
"How am I supposed to live like this?"
But there was something else bothering him, something in his brain. It had changed.
"Why am I not me?"
He was only barely able to hold himself back from sprinting and diving into the water. And since when has he had the skillfulness of an Olympic swimmer?
As much as he tried, Andrew couldn't bring himself to find solid ground as his home anymore. His body and mind had become obsessed with water against his will. His new instincts were growing stronger, overpowering what remained of his human ones.
"What am I going to do?"
Andrew sighed and turned his gaze to the sky. The sun had long since fallen from it, and the woods were encapsulated in darkness. The night was clear and there were countless stars in the sky.
"Woah"
It was as if space had come down to earth. Never had Andrew seen such a pure, starry night. His brain tried to make out constellations from the Earth's skies, but it was no use. The stars were beautiful but foreign.
However, his stargazing was interrupted by a rumbling from Andrew's stomach. Despite being on his feet all day, no substance had found a way into his mouth. Despite desperately wanting to stay away from the strange, oversized, Pokemon town, Andrew ventured back.
The overwhelming sound returned, but he took a deep breath and tuned it out.
"I'm going to starve if I can't at least find an apple"
The main street was lined with shops of all kinds. Andrew's eye caught a colorful stand run by a smeargle. They appeared to be selling art, and for quite steep prices. Turning his gaze away, this made him realize,
"I have no money. How am I supposed to pay for food?"
Still focused on his task, he continued walking down the street and passed a peculiar stand selling scarves. This was baffling.
"Not a single one of these Pokemon is wearing clothes. Why would they need a scarf?"
But next to the strange stand was one selling food. Just what Andrew was looking for!
It was manned by a Kecleon. Andrew may not have had a nose, but the wonderful aromas of the stand's food still filled his nostrils.
"Maybe that Kecleon will give me food for free, out of the kindness of their heart"
A flash of yellow light cut across the street. Andrew's head made contact with the ground before he even knew what happened. There was a straight line of Pokemon toppled onto the street.
"Somebody stop that thief! I don't give away food for free!" yelled the Kecleon.
The day brought many mysteries and unexpected occurrences. But what was no mystery to Andrew, was that any chance of free food had just dropped to zero.
This was not an isolated occurrence. Every stand or shop selling food he scouted seemed to have been robbed. None of the shopkeepers were in good moods. But his hunger refused to subside, only growing as he explored the town.
After about a half hour of searching, he returned to the Kecleon-run stand.
"If every shop is getting robbed, surely one more won't hurt?"
Andrew dashed towards the stand and grabbed as many items with his flippers as he could carry.
"Help, help! I've been robbed again!" cried the angered Kecleon.
The combination of thrill and adrenaline was amazing. Nothing else mattered, Andrew just had to get out of Grandeport before anyone caught him. Eventually, the noise deafened and the light around grew dimmer, he arrived back at the stump.
He spread his flippers causing a pile of food to fall out. Andrew began shoving it into his mouth like the vicious animal he had become.
Unbeknownst to him, however, his heist had been careless. Back at the Kecleon stand, two Pokemon began to follow the trail of food.
—
Andrew yawned and stretched out his flippers. There was still a bit of food left, but he was stuffed.
"Maybe I'll go for a swim before turning in for the night."
He got up and turned in the direction of the ocean, ready to submerge himself in the water again.
"Stop right there thief!"
His head swung around, revealing a Zorua and Espeon standing on a nearby rock.
"Um, are you talking to me?" asked Andrew worriedly.
"Of course we are." sneered the Espeon.
Thoughts of panic began to race through Andrew's head. Were these the police? Not wanting any trouble, he attempted to deny the accusation.
"This food is mine. It's, uh, from home."
"Well that's odd," spoke the Zorua, "Because that looks an awful lot like the food Mr. Kecleon sells."
He maintained a blank expression and stared awkwardly at the Pokemon. Andrew figured that now was a good time to run. His stubby legs shot up as his body awkwardly bolted in the opposite direction.
"I told you he would," remarked the Zorua as he and the Espeon gave chase.
Andrew desperately hoped these Pokemon couldn't swim. Even with his head start they were trailing close behind. The weight of exhaustion began to grow heavy, as his body was not built for running.
"We won't hurt you if you stop now!" cried the Espeon desperately.
The ocean was in sight, freedom was so close. But seemingly out of thin air, the Zorua materialized in front of Andrew. Fearing a collision, he swerved and lost his footing. He fell pathetically.
"Surrender now Marshtomp!" announced the Zorua proudly.
Without even thinking, Andrew opened his mouth and blasted the Zorua with a jet of water. It went flying.
Seizing this opportunity, he began standing up. But as he was doing so, a rock the size of an apple hit the back of his head.
Andrew toppled back down, barely catching a glimpse of the Espeon's disapproving face before falling unconscious.
