To everyone who has read this far: Thank you. This wouldn't be possible without you; or at least, I'd just be a random guy typing these thoughts onto a laptop screen. And yes: I decided to give this title a humorous title.
Remember: If you ever want to contact me off this site, find me on Discord at this username: Snowlabradorffn.
Current music: Hooves On The Roofs - NIIC the Singing Dog
THURSDAY, FEBURARY 1, 2024 (THREE DAYS BEFORE)
6:59 AM
There was the sensation of falling down a long, dark tunnel on my back, with blinding lights flashing on either side of me to occasionally disrupt the darkness. I flailed around like a ragdoll, wondering if it would be like one of those arcade games where, after you get a Game Over, your character is impaled on a bed of spikes.
Luckily, I blacked out before I could experience that sensation, figuring I'd never wake up again if that happened. If I were meant to die from impalement, better not to be conscious for it.
But some time later, I woke up feeling incredibly groggy. My head felt as though someone were pounding it with a jackhammer, and my mouth might well have been invaded by a swarm of Beedrill.
For a moment, I wondered if this was what a hangover felt like, but I knew better than to drink. My brain, after all, was my greatest asset - at least, that's what they always told me.
Unless someone drugged me at a party last night, I thought bitterly. But then…where am I?
Panic welled up within me, white-hot panic in my throat, and I knew then that I was in danger.
If someone has kidnapped me, they'd better show themselves quickly! I'm tougher than I look, you know!
Well, I was eventually able to open my eyes, the haze of sleep having worn off at least for now. And that's when everything came back to me.
There'd been a nuclear meltdown last night. No, yesterday. It had been midday - the radioactive cloud had only made it look like night. I'd been studying from my Pokémon Biology textbook in the library, and then it had happened.
The emergency alert. The nuclear meltdown. And then, in the midst of all of that…Celebi.
I shook my head, which only made it throb more powerfully. That onion fairy had given me a choice: Either go back in time to avert the crisis, or live out the rest of my life like "normal." (Of course, that wasn't a choice at all, since my life wouldn't last much longer.)
That's right. I chose the first option. And then Celebi sent me back in time…three days, it told me.
As I opened my eyes more fully, I found that I was in a dark, enclosed space. Indeed, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd gone blind. And I recalled something else Celebi had told me - namely, that I'd be in for a surprise when I woke up.
Maybe the "surprise" was that I'd lost my vision, and that I'd have to learn how to feel my way around this world. But if Celebi wanted me to stop the meltdown from occurring, why would it impair me so heavily in my attempt to do so?
My next discovery was that I was on all fours in the darkness. I tried to stand up, but this was easier said than done - it was mere seconds before I fell face first onto the ground.
"Why can't I stand?" I all but shouted, not caring that there could be any number of predators around me. And in my current condition, I definitely qualified as prey.
No answer was forthcoming, not that I'd expected one. Naturally, I had to figure things out myself.
So I crawled around in the darkness a bit longer, finding nothing of note. My frustration grew, red-hot anger welling up inside me as I felt around for anything that might help me find a solution to this.
In the back of my mind, of course, there was also the ticking clock. Every minute, every second seemed to slip through my paws like sand through an hourglass.
Wait a minute - paws?
I didn't have paws, obviously. That was just a story I could tell myself in order to explain my situation, just like the people of ancient times had made up stories about gods and demons to explain phenomena that couldn't be explained.
Eventually, my exasperation reached a fever pitch, and I took a deep breath. Then, I exhaled.
A small ball of fire shot out of my mouth as though it were a cannon. In the split second that this was in the air, my surroundings were illuminated, and I saw that I was in fact in a cave.
Oh my Arceus - FIRE! Fire in a cave! That's a very dangerous combination, isn't it?
The flame went out, and so did any light I still had. And that's when I processed something else, too - namely, how the hell could I breathe fire in the first place?
I inhaled once more, this time making sure my breath sank all the way down, to the very bottom of my lungs. And then I let my breath fly.
Another, far larger flame appeared, and there was an instant of panic when I feared that it might suck up all the oxygen in the cave, or burn me to a crisp. Neither sounded like a pleasant way to go.
But I got lucky. The flame stayed there, but didn't seem to grow. And I could see the whole inside of the cave.
It was probably about twenty feet in diameter, and, while it wasn't quite a perfect circle, it was close. There were a few gemstones on the wall, though I was far from an expert on jewelry. Though I couldn't have named them if I tried, it occurred to me that they might still be useful.
Maybe I could see my reflection in them! There's got to be a reason why I can fit comfortably in such a tiny cave!
Okay, "comfortably" was a stretch. My claustrophobia kicked in quickly, and I wondered if I'd be able to get out of here without a tight squeeze. I was a tall man, after all.
Well, I was able to shuffle over to the giant gemstone. And then I saw my reflection and recoiled at the creature that stared back at me.
This is a dream. It can't be happening to me. It just can't be.
And yet, this did not feel like a dream at all (besides my reflection, which still appeared far from realistic.) There I was, a lion cub-like creature who had previously been a human!
"I don't get it," I muttered. "Why did…how did this happen?"
Celebi must have done it. That onion fairy can do just about anything it wants with my body, and if that includes making me a Litleo, then that's what it will do.
Slowly but surely, everything made sense. Okay, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but I understood why I'd been able to breathe fire. (Speaking of fire breath, the ball of flame that I'd previously produced was still present, and still made it possible to see around the cave.)
"I have to get out of here," I muttered. "I need to figure out where I am."
After a cursory glance around the cave, I found a passage that would be just barely enough to admit a fairly small person. In my human form, squeezing through it would have been unthinkable - but that no longer applied to me.
I pushed my way through with relative ease, though the claustrophobia kicked in to some extent, and then I was on the other side. I was free!
Just because I was free from the cave, however, didn't mean I was free from confusion. Being inside such a confined space is disorienting, to say the least, especially when it's dark in there. My eyes were having trouble adjusting to the bright light I encountered.
I had to shut my eyes, because given the position of the cave's exit, I'd been staring right at the rising sun!
I have to find a place where it's easier to see!
Well, moving around when your eyes are closed isn't generally advisable. After only a few feet, I fell face first into some cold, wet substance.
At least that stuff cushioned my fall. It could have been worse!
It only took a few seconds for me to figure out what that substance was: Snow. Just like my last name, I thought, trying for a small amount of levity.
Once I rolled over, I opened my eyes. The sun was still glaring to no small degree, but at least I could see better now.
The cave had been situated on the edge of a mountain. The ground was, surprise surprise, adorned in a thick layer of snow, far fluffier than that which is often featured at New Hampshire's numerous ski resorts.
I realized that I had to be facing eastward, because the sun was rising rather than setting. (Don't ask me how I knew that. I just did.)
The mountainside was covered in evergreen trees, many of which were themselves glazed with snow and ice that shone in the sunrise. Despite the sun's rays, a light snowfall was occurring as well, which, in my opinion, only made it more beautiful.
In short, the scene could be described in one word: Serene. And on some level, I wondered if this is how we were meant to live - not just Pokémon, but humans as well. After all, for most of human history, cities were a foreign concept.
It was hard to imagine that such a tragedy would occur in just three days.
No, it already happened. I've been sent back in time to stop it.
Wait a minute…no, it's going to happen.
Needless to say, as I stared at the beautiful landscape laid out before me, pondering the mechanics of time travel made my head throb harder than it had when I'd first woken up in that cave. But that didn't stop my mind from wandering back to all the time paradoxes that I'd heard.
From what I remembered, time travel opened a giant can of Caterpie. There were numerous paradoxes, the most famous one being the idea that if you went back in time and killed your grandfather, you wouldn't have been born yet, so you wouldn't have been able to kill your grandfather. And then there was the issue of returning to a time period you'd already lived through…
Oh, Arceus!, I realized. What if I come across a version of myself from February 1? That Lucas Snow has no idea what's in store for him!
It didn't take long to understand that this likely wouldn't work. Even if I could find the university that human Lucas attended, they likely didn't allow unauthorized people on campus; given the increase in crime all over the country, I didn't blame them.
And even if I could get in and visit his dorm, Lucas likely wouldn't believe that the Litleo standing before him was in fact his future self…or past self, having come from the future?
Needless to say, it all made my head spin like a broken carnival ride at some terrible fair.
I took a deep breath. "I'll focus on the things I can control right now."
Unless I wanted to return to that dingy cave, I needed to find shelter. I began trudging downhill through the snow with the sun to my right. Of course, that meant I was heading northward, but did it really matter what direction I chose?
It depends on how far away Celebi dropped me off. I could be hundreds or even thousands of miles from the university. If that's the case…then I'm screwed, aren't I?
No! I can't give up, not when so much is at stake!
At first, going was tough through the thick white stuff. I might have been much lighter than in my human form, but I still sank deeply into the snow with every step. In a way, the walk was more akin to the butterfly stroke they taught you in advanced swimming lessons.
Before long, I was panting, not to mention soaked in not just snow, but sweat as well. What was more, when you're a fur-covered Litleo, sweat doesn't trickle down your body. Rather, it stays in your fur and refuses to leave it without some sort of intervention.
That's totally gross. Now I know what lifelong Pokémon go through all the time!
Needless to say, my limbs were aching by the time I reached the bottom of the hill. And to make matters worse, the "fun" part hadn't started yet - the downhill was the easiest aspect of the trek!
Oh, my gravy, I thought bitterly, referencing a line I'd heard somewhere, but hadn't ever used myself.
I saw a few squirrels amongst the snow. (No, they weren't Pokémon. All Pokémon might be animals, but the reverse isn't true.) And that's when it occurred to me that this could be my ticket to salvation.
I need to find some food, I realized. I can eat snow for water; I just have to make sure it isn't yellow.
As for the squirrel, if I follow it to its den, I'm sure I can steal some acorns or whatnot. I'm sure the squirrel would understand if I explained it to them…wait, can I talk to non-Pokémon animals as a Pokémon? Maybe that's worth a shot!
Unfortunately, following a squirrel was easier said than done, namely because they could dash through the snow like it was nothing, whereas I had to "swim" through it. Seriously, if you think you've seen snow before, you should try hiking deep into the mountains and trying to trudge your way through the white stuff.
Nevertheless, I persisted. Every time I found a squirrel, I tried to chase it to its den, but it never took long for me to lose my target. Eventually I decided enough was enough - the constant chase took up far more energy than I'd gain from a couple acorns. (And that's if I could eat the acorns - maybe I couldn't.)
Instead, I elected to conserve my breath as much as possible by hiking through the snow at a gradual pace. That way I wouldn't tire.
On the downside, of course, there was the rising sun. I wouldn't have minded the sun chasing away some of the shadows (even if in winter, the sun was too weak to melt all this snow), except that it was yet another reminder of the passage of time.
Every second is a "gift" from Celebi. I can't waste it.
Still, what choice did I have? If I burned myself out too quickly, I would have to stop for a break, and if I did that, I knew that the prospect of continuing would become very unappetizing.
At one point, I reached a narrow river that rapidly carved its way through the sparse pine forest. It was only then that I noticed how parched I felt from the exertion, not to mention how much breathing that fire had hurt my throat.
"Let's think about this," I muttered to myself. "If the river water isn't safe to drink, I could get very sick, and I'd lose the fluids I got from it, and then a lot more.
"On the other hand, the water from the snow isn't going to hydrate me as effectively. It'll also take a lot more effort to get that liquid. Finally, it's got to be a good sign that the river's rushing pretty quickly.
"Yeah, I'm going to chance it."
I leaned over and took a long chug from the river. The water was almost as cold as melted snow - indeed, snowmelt was probably feeding the river. It was almost painful to drink, as ice soon flooded my insides.
Eventually, I collapsed to the ground - my stomach hurt like hell, just like it sometimes did if I drank too much water on an empty stomach. I moaned, clutching my chest with one of my paws.
Man up, Lucas, I chastised myself. Your last name is Snow! You can handle this!
So I got back to my feet after a while and kept drinking. This time I was no longer gulping, but rather letting a little bit pass my lips at a time. Little by little, I felt myself rehydrate, and I could have jumped for joy after a few minutes of this.
I barely noticed the slow, lumbering footfalls behind me. In hindsight, I think I was aware on some level that all was not well here - I just wanted to ignore it. After all, it didn't fit well with my desire to keep drinking from the river.
The next thing I heard was a growl, and I was swept off my feet by what felt like a sharp claw.
Next up: Lucas is up a creek, a flame creates a buzz, and our hero takes a leap of faith.