Chapter 1: All Things New

Where….where am I?

One question burned in his head as he tried to get up. He felt sand under his form, coarse grains intermingling with his hair.

Not hair…fur….

The thought alarmed him, though he didn't know why. He moved to try and stand, but his mussels refused to move properly.

Where am I?

With great effort, he forced his eyes open. His vision was blurry, only able to vaguely make out the outline of a beach bathed in warm red light. After a few moments, more began to come into focus, "Something….on my….face…" He muttered. A fuzzy brown mass was visible in front of him, obscuring the lower part of his vision. He tried to move his arm to swat at the intruding mass, only to see another fuzzy brown mass ending with a paw come into view.

"Wrong…!" he croaked, his voice still strained. I am human! The thought was loud and insistent, as if his mind had the power to force it to be true. He needed to get up, to move, to run, to scream, yet all that happened was whatever energy he still possessed, collapsed.

Fading….

Desperate he reached for anything in his mind to confirm what he knew as true. "Edward,' he croaked, tears welling up in his eyes, "My name…" and then exhaustion took him. He didn't know how long he was out, but by the time he regained consciousness the sun was directly overhead, and someone was shaking his body.

"Hey! Are you okay?" The voice was loud and close, "Man, you don't look that okay…"

Edward groaned, and with great effort, opened his eyes. Looming over him was a red and white maw with three, sharp teeth. The breath coming from the beast was hot, practically singing the ends of his fur. "DAEMON!" Edward shouted, leaping to his feet. Instinctually, he blotted on all fours, kicking up sand as he ran.

"Hey, wait!" the demon said, a frown on its face, "I'm not a dae-mon, I'm a Fue-"

"AH!" Edward came to a sputtering halt as the sand moved and contorted around him, forming a castle-like structure, and turned to face the back-pedaling Eevee, "DAEMON!"

The sandcastle shook its head, "My my, this one does seem to have lost it. I haven't seen a pokemon this scared since we landed."

At this point, Edward's mind was in full panic mode, and his instincts were all too willing to override any rational thought, "Mother! Mother! Help!" He cried and, abruptly, turned towards his only remaining escape vector, a wide open cave in the seaside cliffs.

"Wait, no!" One of the daemons called as he fled, "That's a mystery dungeon!"

Edward paid them no head and practically leaped into the mouth of the cave. He turned back to see if they were following him, only to see a cave wall behind. Edward paused, panic slowly dying down to be replaced by confusion. He looked around to see he now stood in a room, each wall that of a cave, that had only one exit leading into what looked to be more cave.

"Where…what…?" Edward asked between gasps, and then realized something rather silly, he was standing on all fours. Despite how natural this posture felt, he tried to stand up but only managed to do a little hop. Confused, he tried again, this time managing to raise briefly on his back legs only to come crashing back down on his front legs.

Edward felt a cold grip of fear course through him. He turned and twisted his body to see his natural form had been twisted into a body not his own. In place of white skin, he now had brown fur, in place of a human body, he had one more akin to a dog or fox, and in place of human hands, he had the paws of a cat. His new tail swished uneasily behind him as he tried to control his panic.

"Th-the daemon," he stuttered as his mind threatened to shut down, "they must have twisted my form…some witch or hag's spell-"

"Ah, good, I thought if I hopped in right after you the dungeon would group us together." The familiar voice echoed from behind him, "Now, please, don't go running off again."

Edward whirled around to face the beast head-on. Now that he had calmed down, he could better observe the creature's twisted form. The daemon was a few inches taller than his new form (which he estimated was the approximate size of a cat) and waddled on two stumpy legs with equally stumpy arms. The creature's predominant feature was its large head and wide jaw containing three distinct teeth. Sprouting from the top of the daemon's head was an orange stem that glowed like fire. Edward growled at the creature, "You, daemon, I demand that you reverse whatever you did to me at once!"

The creature gave a deep sigh, "Listen, I was trying to tell you earlier, I am not a dae-mon, whatever that is. I am a Fuecoco, and my name is Kate." The beast gave a reassuring smile, "Nice to meet you!"

Edward frowned, "I don't care what godforsaken name you give yourself, witch. I just want you to turn me back!"

"Turn you back?" The beast questioned, a hint of confusion in her voice, "What do you-?"

"Human!" Edward screamed, "Turn me back into a human!"

"Wait, hold up," the beast said, excitement in her eyes, "You're saying you're a human!"

Edward didn't know if he liked how excited the daemon had gotten all of a sudden. Did the daemon not realize that he was human first? He thought to himself, Oh God! What if she eats my soul or something! Do daemons eat human souls? "Stay back!" He barked, taking a cautious step backward.

The beast seemed to ignore him, "Oh my Arceus! If you're a human, just like in the stories my grandma told, then it must be destiny!" The beast lumbered up to him, "Listen, I realize this all must be new to you-" Instinct once again gripped Edward's body as he turned tail and bolted through the hall out of the room.

"Hey, wait!" the beast called, but Edward kept running as fast as his new, shorter legs could go. Up until he reached another room and stopped dead in his tracks. There, at the other end, were what could best be described as walking mushrooms. The beast had an oblong spherical head pinkish-gray in color with large yellow spots and small, beady eyes. The creatures stood on two long, thin white legs. They stared straight at him as he entered the room, and despite not saying a word, Edward could feel the primal fury in their eyes.

"Ah, Toedscool," Edward turned to see that the daemon from before, the one that had given her name as Kate, was right behind him, "Wild by the looks of them. Hang back, I'll deal with 'em."

Kate stepped forward in front of Edward as the Toedscool charged, emitting a strange and off-putting battle cry as they did so. Kate hopped forward and unleashed a small burst of flame, hitting the first Toedscool squarely on the head. The creature dropped immediately. The second one screeched and threw what looked like mud at Kate, but missed wide and nearly hit Edward who jumped back just in time not to be hit. Kate then released another blast of fire, downing the final Toedscool.

"Ha! Simple enough," Kate said, smiling down at the two knocked-out Pokemon, "Let's just hope I continue to have a type advantage going forward." She looked backwards at the Eevee, who just stared blankly at the unmoving creatures, "You, ah, okay dude?"

Edward looked blankly up at her, and blinked, "I…I need an explanation."

Kate, for her part, shrugged, "I figured you would. I tried to give you one earlier, but ya' ran off before I could." She gestured to the surrounding walls, "And giving detailed explanations in mystery dungeons can be a bit dangerous. Though I suppose not knowing what you're doing could be more dangerous," She paused, thinking.

Edward's head was pounding, and he felt that instinct to bolt once more building up, but this time he squashed it, and firmly planted his paws on the ground, "Look, dae-, err, what did you say your name was again?"

The Fuecoco looked up, grinning, "It's Kate. I know I said this earlier, but it's nice to meet you. What's your name?"

Edward hesitated. Poking at the edges of his hazy memory were stories of hags and other fae creatures that stole people's names. Yet, a more rational part of his mind dismissed these wild speculations. This beast had just saved his life, more likely than not, and had been attempting to explain things since the beach. "Edward," he said resolutely, "My name is Edward."

"Good," Kate said with a nod, "Now, you're in the world of Pokemon, ring any bells."

Edward shook his head, "Pokemon? Is that even a word?"

Kate sighed, "Ah, well, I suppose we'll have to start from ground zero," she cleared her throat, but paused when the Toedscool began to stir, "Hmm, best we walk and talk, follow me."

After traveling through four more rooms and stopping just long enough to pick up some random items Kate had said would be helpful, Edward's head was spinning. The first shock was that he was apparently an Eevee, a member of this pokemon race. Evidently, this world was divided into two main types of pokemon, civilized pokemon like Kate and himself who lived in villages and towns, and wild Pokemon who roamed dungeons and became enraged at the sight of civilized pokemon. And then there were the 'mystery dungeons', areas of land where some profane magic continuously changed the shape and layout of the area and populated it with these wild pokemon. And that was just the beginning of things.

"Alright, I think we're coming to the end now," Kate said as they made their way through another hallway, "Sandstone Cave isn't that big, more of a beginner dungeon. I suppose we were lucky you ran into it instead of a longer, more dangerous dungeon."

The room opened up into a larger cavern with a small chest at the other end. The chest was raised up on a rock surrounded by a small spring, the water trickling in from a hole in the far wall. Kate grinned a toothy grin, "Yes! We get a dungeon reward! I wasn't sure we would. It wasn't that hard of a-"

Erupting from the spring was a star-sharp creature with a ruby center. "Oh, well, that's not good," Kate muttered, taking a defensive stance.

"What in creation is that thing?" Edward asked, taking a step back.

"That is a Staryu, a water-type pokemon," Kate said, frowning, "Listen, I'm going to need your help on this one. My fire won't be very effective here so-look out!"

Edward felt himself be lifted by the scruff of his fur and yanked back as the star-shaped beast spun past them. It stopped just before it hit the wall, redirecting itself and spinning after them again. This time, Edward was able to dodge without assistance, scrambling away from the incoming beast. "Help how? I don't have a weapon!"

"Use an attack!" Kate said, tracking the spinning Staryu and then launching herself forward, knocking it back and causing it to stop spinning, "See, like that!" She said cheerfully as she dodged a blast of water from the enraged Staryu.

"You want me to just hit it?" Edward said in alarm, "How is that going to help in the slight-BLAAAH!" The Staryu had been quicker on the recovery than before and had blasted Edward with a quick pulse of water. Edward was thrown back, his bones aching from the force.

"Edward!" Kate shouted but maintained her focus on her opponent. She leaped forward, bashing into the beast and throwing it back into the water. She spared a second to look backwards to see Edward slowly rising.

In that second the Startyu came spinning out of the water and struck Kate square in the chest, throwing her back into the wall near Edward. Edward felt his heart seize in panic as the instinct to run was almost overwhelming. But just as he was about to turn tail and run, he saw Kate still lying there, groaning and the Sturyu marching towards them.

You can do this, a voice from inside told him. Be courageous like a knight! Like Sir Gawain! Edward focused on the encroaching Staryu, and shouted, "Charge!"

He leaped forward with blinding speed, letting a new instinct take hold as he poured his strength and speed into one concentrated attack. Instinctively, he knew the name of this technique: Quick Attack. The Staryu, in the process of charging its water attack, was blindsided.

Edward felt the force of the impact, though not any of the expected pain, as his opponent went careening into the opposing wall. Edward watched as it fell, ready to follow up with another attack, but this proved unnecessary, as the Staryu did not get back up. It took a moment for Edward to realize, but once he did, the realization struck him like a thunderbolt, We won!

Kate groaned as she stood up. The Staryu had knocked the breath out of her, and she still felt a little light-headed. Once she was on her feet, however, she felt a rush of adrenaline and quickly scanned the area, ready to leap out of the way of an incoming attack, only to see a surprising sight. In the middle of the room stood an Eevee, currently facing away from her, and beyond that was the Staryu, who lay unmoving.

Kate sighed in relief, and walked up to Edward with a smile on her face, "Good job! See, I knew you could do it!"

The Eevee turned to her, his shocked expression slowly changing into one of excitement, "That was…" he said, his tail slowly starting to wag, "I mean, I just launched myself forward, and.." He stuttered, his tail now fully swishing back and forth, and Kate had to suppress a giggle. In the short span of a few minutes, he had gone from a moping mess to an excited kid who had just won his first battle.

"Nothing like a good battle to shake ya' loose, as my grandma would say. Now, for the real fun part, the reward!" Kate said as she walked past the Eevee, motioning for him to follow behind her, and up to the chest at the far side of the room.

Edward followed behind her, still riding the high of his victory, "I think I used a technique called Quick Attack, though it was strange. I don't know how I know this technique."

"Pokemon are born innately knowing some battle moves," Kate explained, reaching out to open the chest, "For example, I've known how to use Ember, that move where I launch a burst of fire from my mouth since I hatched."

"I see," Edward lied. As Kate hefted the lid of the chest open, he put his front paws up on the chest and peered inside. Within, there were two matching silver scarves. "And this would be?"

"Our reward from the dungeon," Kate said, taking one of the scarves and tying it around her left arm, "Hmm, sweet! I think these are defense scarves. They'll allow us to take a bit more damage than usual."

"You're saying these scarfs function as armor?" Edward questioned, looking at the remaining scarf in the chest, "How exactly is that supposed to even work?" He sighed and turned from the chest as Kate grabbed the other scarf, "A scarf is a scarf. What we really need is some gambeson and full… How are we outside?"

They were now standing firmly in front of the cave they had just been in, the sun now lower in the sky but not quite low enough for it to be sunset yet. Waves could be heard crashing into the shore and what Edward swore were birds soared overhead. This was all too surreal for him, "Kate, how did we GAH!"

Edward gagged as he felt something tighten around his neck. Instinctively, he tried to roll away, but to no avail, as his would-be hangman's strength outmatched his own. The struggle was brief, however, as whoever had held him released him. Still panicked, he rolled to the side, turning to only see Kate standing there, a grin on her face, "Wha- who-?"

"Hmm, oh, I thought you'd want some help putting on your scarf," Kate said innocently.

After taking a moment to calm himself, Edward put a paw to his throat to feel a cloth scarf tried neatly around his neck. Strangely enough, now that he was aware of this, he did feel some sort of new resilience running through his body. He growled, "What kind of profane magic hath thou thrust upon me, daemon!"

Kate rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, it was your half of the reward. You earned it fair and square. Plus, considering you're new to the Pokemon world, you could use a bit of extra protection."

Edward's eyes narrowed. Something within him warned him to distrust this obvious magic as an unknown and dangerous thing. Add to that Kate assuming he'd even want the item and worse yet, forcing it upon him. Yet, he did feel a bit safer with it on, and was it not a justly won token? A symbol of his victory? In the end, he sighed, "Fine, for now, I shall wear it. But if I request its removal, you must swear to take it off of me."

"Of course," Kate said casually with a bit of a laugh, "Gosh, you are really uptight about these things, aren't you."

"You would be too if you were thrust into an unknown situation far from home in a body not your own!" Edward said, his voice cracking. He had meant for his words to come out more argumentative, but as the situation fully sunk in for him, he felt an intense weight way him down.

Kate seemed to pick up on this and waddled over to him, "Err, hey, Edward," she began. The Eevee looked at her, his eyes now watery from holding back tears, "I know this has all come as a bit of a shock but…" She trailed, unsure what to say. Fortunately, a growl emanating from Edward's stomach interrupted their conversation. There was a pause, and then Kate sighed in relief, "How about we get some food in you first before we deal with more of this."

Edward took a deep breath and nodded, quickly wiping away the tears threatening to form in his eyes, "Indeed. I…I'm quite famished."

Kate grinned, "Well then, follow me to a warm meal and a hot bath! You reek of ocean water."

Author's Note: Well, there we have it, chapter 1! I hope y'all enjoyed it. I'm still working on chapter 2, and am always interested in getting feedback. Edward and Kate are a joy to write, so much so that this chapter kinda wound up a bit bloated. Future chapters might not be quite as long, but they should never be as short as the prologue. On a different note, deciding what pokemon Edward would be was a very difficult decision. I went back and forth between a number of Pokemon, but settled on Eevee for its superb ability Run Away and the tantalizing options when it comes to evolution. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a protagonist to torment!