So I've gotten into a bad habit: Crappy pokemon fanfiction writing. A guilty pleasure I must admit. I know it's kind of weird for a 22-year-old to still be writing pokemon fanfiction. I guess I just never had much success at it in my teenage years and kind of want to give it another bash. Writing was never my strong point, I was always better at drawing.
Oh well, though. Here goes a little summary for those who are just looking for a quick glance and aren't sure if they want to read all of the first chapter: This is a pokemon fanfiction where the main characters in the real world are sucked into the pokemon world. I can hear the groans already, "not another one of those". Yeah I won't say there's anything really special about mine because there's not, other than the fact the main characters enter the pokemon world in their dreams and re-awaken back in reality every day. Also, the pokemon world in their dreams is much influenced by their own perceptions but it's also reltively stable and consistent (as far as I can manage), and the laws of reality in the dream world don't change by the second like in a regular dream. The genere is kind of drama mixed with paranormal mixed with family mixed with friendship, but mostly drama. Not very action-heavy, there's a little bit of it but not heaps of it.
CPP Chapter 1
"Dililininilinilinilinini....."
"Dun dun dun dudududun! Duh-dun dun dun dudududun,... dun...."
"Din din din didididin...."
"I choose you Typhlosion!"
The little boy threw a plastic red and white ball from behind an over-sized sleeve. It landed on the grass uneventfully. The boy covered the several-sizes-too-big sleeves over his mouth and made a croaking "Typhlosion!" cry.
"That's not how typhlosion sounds!" The large boy opposite him scoffed. "Typhlosion sounds like this! Raurghrblrgh!!"
The little boy posed in his borrowed trench coat, sleeves hanging well below his wrists, and adjusted his big brother's borrowed cap on his head off to the side. "Well MY typhlosion is different! MY typlosion can speak!"
"Nu-uh you can't do that!" The large boy stomped forward towards his friend.
"Can too! Meowth speaks!"
"Yeah but that's the only one that can speak out of ALL the pokemon!" The large boy clenched his fists to his sides. "And-and-and the rules of the game is you can't have talking pokemon!" He nodded his head in agreement to his own words.
"Nu-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"I'm telling Richard you're making up the rules as you go!" The little boy turned around, almost tripping up over his borrowed trench coat.
"Then-then-then..." The larger buy's chin quivered as he struggled to find a comeback, "you're not playing pokemon with me ever again!" He nodded his head again as if confirming his own agreement with his words.
Childhood squabbles were common. They were almost always followed by periods of uninterrupted playing and fun. They never stayed angry with each other for long. Most of the time they forgot what they were fighting about, and then just unanimously made up on the spot. They were brothers after all - that's just what brothers do.
Down the line as they got older they changed. They were best friends at home but outside they became more distant. That's natural - they were becoming their own individuals. Seeking their own interests and developing them. They would stifle each other if they stayed together. But there was one thing that they always had time to do together: play pokemon.
Even into their teens.
"Dude you're never going to beat my pokemon!" The sturdier, curly-haired boy slouched on the office chair with his feet up on the desk playing an old-fashioned game boy advance. He boasted, "I'm like thirty levels ahead of you."
"We'll see..." The smaller, skinnier boy rattled away at the keyboard on his laptop while almost simultaneously pressing buttons on his game boy advance SP. "This'll be worth it."
"EV training is boring! Just level up already..."
"I am levelling..."
"You're such a geek you know that?"
"Shaddap! You're a geek!"
There was a knock at the door, and a small, timid voice almost whispered from behind, "Peter, Henry, are you two doing your homework?"
"Yeah mam...!" Henry replied in an automatic tone, shifting his eyes between his laptop and his SP. Peter snickered while thumbing away at his handheld console.
"Good boys. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
"Sweeet..." Peter cheered.
"Fat ass..." Henry murmured.
"You're a fat ass!"
They were not perfect boys. They got into trouble, they got into fights. They didn't always do their homework on time. They even frequently squabbled with one another. But in spite of this they were inseparable. Although they had their own lives, they both knew that their brother came first.
That night was supposed to be like any other night. They brushed their teeth. They had a shower. They said goodnight to their mother and went to their bedrooms. They got under the bed covers... (and in Peter's case, carrying a handheld console), and went to sleep (in Peter's case, after a few level-ups).
---
Henry squinted his eyes in the sunlight. What a headache. He wiped his forehead with his hand... it was wet. The stench of body odour made him nauseous, and the dryness of his mouth made swallowing impossible. Water. Water, water, water! Need water!
Automatically he shot up out of bed and clutched his aching head. "Great..." he thought. "I hope this isn't flu."
Bleary-eyed he raised his head and had a look around. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was still clutching his head when he came to realise that... this was not his bedroom. In fact, this was almost certainly not even his house. It was also the first time he had ever seen a thatched roof from the inside. A faint scent of smoke drifted in from outside. The morning sun, low on the horizon, beamed in making the interior of the hut golden.
At this point Henry laughed. "Lucid dream! Hahaha... ow!" He squeezed his hand on his aching forehead. "I'd better wake up though... I feel really sick."
At this point Henry closed his eyes and concentrated. He tried shaking his head around a little, but all it did was exasperate his headache. He opened his eyes... still here. His breathing picked up in pace. He'd had lucid dreams before. He'd always been able to wake up from them. He'd also never felt any pain in them before.
"Oh shoot this is real!" He got up and although his headache was consuming his entire skull by this point, he was more interested in finding out where he was and how he had got there.
The floor was cool on his bare feet, but the sun coming in the hole in the hut that was supposed to be a window made him uncomfortably warm. It was at this point he noticed the chirping of insects as well as birds outside. The only time he ever heard insects at home was in the summer, and they were rare. The odd lone grasshopper maybe, but not the tropical chorus he was hearing now. It wasn't even supposed to be summer time now.
He didn't care that he was dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts. It was far more important to him that he found out where he was. The wooden door to the hut was unlocked and slightly ajar. It made a faint creaking sound as he opened it, revealing to him the outside world. Tropical palms and cycads dominated the scenery. The dry earth was warmer than the stone floors and covered in dry palm leaves.
"Hello?" came a female voice from his left. He turned around trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes so that he could see clearly who was there.
Two figures stood, waiting and watching cautiously. "Where am I?" Henry grumbled.
"You're at our home." One of them replied, the female, still not daring to take an inch further.
"Well, how did I get there? What... what's going on?" Henry noticed his headache again and rubbed his eyes.
"You tell us!" A deep voice grumbled from right next to Henry, causing him to jump in fright. Before he had much of a chance to turn his head to see who it was, he had a spear held to his throat. Out of reflex he backed away, only to have his back meet the wall of the hut.
"That's sharp..." Henry's voice pitched in fright. He didn't dare move forward. Holding the spear was a large bearded, long-haired man. His clothing was unusual, like something worn by an ancient warrior, decorated with turtle and clam shells. His face was crumpled and rough and his eyes told no lies. Henry knew that this man had used this spear before and he was used to using it on people.
"Speak!" The warrior's voice boomed like that of a lion.
Henry tried to speak but his voice was frozen. All he could muster were frightened squeaks.
"Lucas I think you're being just a tad extreme..." The female spoke again, this time she sounded nearer, but Henry did not dare move his head until this "Lucas" pulled the spear away.
When Henry had the chance to look around he realised he was surrounded by three people dressed in armour and armed up to the eyeballs. While he stood there, half-naked and looking down in embarrassment, realising he had just wet himself.
"Who are you?" the woman asked. She was holding some kind of firearm but to Henry's relief it was pointed at the ground.
"I'm Henry..." he cringed at how wussy his voice sounded at this point.
"And? So? What the hell were you doing trying to steal our pokemon last night?"
"Woah, wait what?!" Henry put his hands up submissively. "Listen there's been some kind of misunderstanding..."
"Why else would you break into our compound?" The woman's accompanying male interrogated, with his hand on his sword handle. Henry wanted to do anything to make sure that sword remained sheathed.
"I don't remember anything I swear!" He begged, "Please don't hurt me I'm telling the truth!"
The girl paused a moment and scowled at Henry suspiciously. She turned to Lucas and suggested, "You think we hit him over the head just a little too hard...?"
"No." Lucas grunted and replied honestly, "I don't think we hit him hard enough."
"I'll cooperate! Anything! Just please believe me I don't know what's going on!" Henry began to panic. His voice became wobbly.
"Fine you can begin by telling us who you are and where you're from." The woman instructed demandingly.
Henry nodded in agreement. Anything that would help keep him as far away from their worst side as possible, he was willing to do it. "I'm Henry... I'm from Canada.... well... not for long, I've lived around the states too..." He tried not to give away his fear in his voice but it was futile.
"Never heard of it" The woman's tone of voice was scornful. "You're lying." Her companions readied their weapons. "Give us one good reason why we shouldn't slay you now, theif."
"I... I... I swear I'm telling the truth! Last thing I remember IwenttobedandIwasathomeandthenIwakeuphereandOH GOD DON'T KILL ME!" Henry curled up onto a pathetic sobbing heap on the ground, holding his hands over his head. "Don't kill me..."
The armoured trio looked back and forth between one another, cringing in embarrassment. "This is saaad..." The sword-carrying male commented.
"Fine get up." The woman had had enough of Henry's grovelling.
Henry continued to sob.
"I said get up!"
Henry rose to his feet, hunched over, not daring to look at anyone in the eye or let anyone see the tears on his face. It seemed impossible for him to stop sobbing.
"Come with me..." The girl commanded.
Henry trudged on behind her cautiously, wary of the others who mocked and jeered from behind.
To Henry's disappointment she was not going to help him. She was not even going to free him. She gave him a change of clothes and let him wash in the stream under her strict supervision... under the aim of a gun, no less. An attempt to drink from the stream was met by a threat on his life - as if just being naked and wet with his own urine wasn't bad enough. The fresh clothes she had given him didn't exactly smell or look fresh at all. They were stained and smelled musky. Looking at the old yellow (once white?) shirt he had been given, he noticed a couple of muddy-red stains accompanied by holes. He hoped those were just juice stains or something, but he knew he was kidding himself.
After changing in full view of this woman (which was nowhere near as cool as he had imagined it might be) he approached her cautiously. She did not lower her gun, but simply motioned for him to move in front of her. "Walk. I'll direct you."
Henry spent much of the rest of that day caged. In the sun. Oh, and he had not yet been given any water. He had never experienced such thirst in his life. His stomach ached as it shivered and shook in fear. He just lay on the palm leaves inside his bamboo cage and shivered, despite how hot it was. Looking to his side was the guard. The most sympathetic character he had met so far had threatened to kill him twice. He didn't even want to think about asking this new guard about where this place was or who these people were. What were those crates for... what were they carrying? Why was everybody armed and so damn angry?
One more thing bothered him. He could have sworn they said that they thought he was going to steal their pokemon. No, he must have misheard.. Maybe they said 'firearms' and he just heard 'pokemon' for some strange reason? Why would anyone be so serious about useless electronic data? Were they trying to mess with his mind?
The sun's heat only got stronger as it rose higher in the sky. Henry's mild discomfort was turning into real pain. His skin was turning red and his headache was getting worse. Every so often he could hear strange noises and see strange colours. The dehydration was taking its toll, he assumed. It became unbearable, the headache, the thirst and not knowing what they would do with him next, or if they were just leaving him to die in this cage. He cried out and pleaded to the guard for some water... but there was no response. He started to care less and less about the prospect of being shot as his conscious awareness dwindled away along with his hope. Many thoughts ran through his mind... where these people pirates? Was last night the last time we was ever going to see his brothers and his mother? Was his name going to be splashed on the news?
"This is the one."
Henry had almost passed out by this point when a shadow was cast over him, bringing relief from the blazing heat. The voices were but an echo in his over-heated and delirious mind.
"He doesn't look like he's from around here..." A male voice... kind of soft.
"Well he doesn't claim to be either." Her... from earlier.
"What has he told you?"
"Nothing. But he's weak. He'll talk."
"He can't have found this place by himself."
"We searched the entire circumference of the island. There were no boats, no signs of one either..."
"Then he must have arrived by air."
"You think he's a spy?"
"You didn't find any equipment on him."
"That's true."
"But we can't rule out the possibility... it's just so strange though. He was naked. Literally."
"He could have been assisted by a pokemon."
Henry's eyes opened suddenly. He was in full shade of the trees. It suddenly seemed much cooler and darker. The sky was still light, but it had a pinkish tinge from the low angle of the sun. The songs from the birds and insects had changed into a slower, more rhythmic tune. Looking around he couldn't find the two individuals that had been having a conversation about him. He must have been dreaming that last part. Surely... though he didn't feel like he had really slept.
By this point the headache had levelled out to a constant. It didn't matter if he sat up or lay down, he wasn't going to be able to rest with it. Sitting up he looked around for the guard. It seemed nobody was watching him.
"Hi."
A tiny voice made Henry jolt. He looked around but couldn't find the source.
"Hello."
It was a child's voice... but from where?
"Up here, silly."
Henry looked up to see the silhouette of a small animal standing on the bars along the top of the cage. He couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it seemed like some kind of over-sized, long-nosed, tail-less shrew. Henry figured some kind of freaky tropical island animal he'd only heard of on the news. But where was the child?
"I've been watching you."
Henry yelped and fell back away from the animal. "Did that animal just....?"
"Hey, I'm not just an animal!" The creature's nose poked through the bars.
"Oh my gad!" Henry started to flail in his cage.
"Shhh! Don't be scared. I saw."
"This is a hallucination isn't it? I'm flipping out! I've lost it haven't I?"
"No... oh so sad! They really scared you didn't they?" The little creature scampered across the bars and hopped down onto the ground next to the cage.
"I saw you appear out of thin air. How did you do that?" The child-like voice asked, though Henry refused to believe it was coming from the animal.
"I don't know... I don't know what's going on." Henry couldn't believe he was talking to what he assumed to be the result of hallucination.
"Well, I just spoke with your captor. She's my trainer!"
"Trainer?"
"Uh-huh. She takes care of me and makes me stronger. She's actually really nice when you get to know her."
Henry looked round at the animal. It was standing on its hind legs this time. "I told her about what I saw. I really don't think you meant to come here. We pokemon can sense those kinds of things. I know you're telling the truth."
"P-pokemon?!" Henry stammered, before mumbling something incoherent.
"Uh... yeah? You never seen a pokemon talk before?"
Henry's body began to tingle. He could feel himself becoming weak, unable to hold himself steadily upright. A sudden exhaustion and nausea overcame his body, and the only thing that came easy for him was to close his eyes and drift off...
---
Why he was surprised to wake up in his own bed he didn't know. Henry only knew that there was something very much not right about that dream. He felt horrendous. Slipping out of his bed he put his feet on his own bedroom carpet. His legs felt like jelly. The moment he let go of the support of his bed his legs collapsed and he fell onto his floor. His head still pounded and his throat was still dry.
After getting up he trudged through to the kitchen. He rubbed his forehead, noticing a huge lump had formed just above his hair line. He remembered how strange dreams can occur when one is dehydrated, or sick, or if they've had a concussion. He reasoned with himself that it was the most likely explanation. A bash to the head during the night, perhaps... though his bedroom walls were not really that hard and he didn't have a head-stand to accidentally bash his head on.
Instead of going for the cereal cupboard, his first stop was the medicine cupboard. He had hardly noticed his own mother and brother already in the kitchen eating.
"Henry you look like crap." Peter commented between mouthfuls of cheerios.
"Oh he's right, honey are you okay?" His mother added.
Henry could only manage a grumble before he gulped down some pills in a glass of water with a shaky hand.
"Henry how many did you take there?"
"Two..." Henry could only manage a whisper.
"Good boy. I think we need to make a doctor's appointment for you." There was a moment of silence before she continued, "Henry... have you been using a sun-bed? Do be honest dear, I will find out."
"No mam." Henry downed another glass of water and filled it up again under the faucet.
"Henry...." her voice became more scornful.
"I said no, mam." Henry's raised voice was muffled by the glass he was drinking from.
"Hahaha you look like a frickin' lobster, dude!"
Henry looked down at his hands. One of them was a bit pink, but the other was quite definitely sun-burnt. On top of that his whole body ached and stung.
"Looks like you had a worse night than I had dude." Peter stuffed his face before spurting out his next sentence (along with half-chewed soggy cheerios), "Seriously the dream I had last night was epic. I can remember every little detail!"
"Peter don't talk with your mouth full" said his mother.
"I don't think mine was a dream, dude..." Henry whispered to himself, out of earshot of his mother and brother.
Oh well, though. Here goes a little summary for those who are just looking for a quick glance and aren't sure if they want to read all of the first chapter: This is a pokemon fanfiction where the main characters in the real world are sucked into the pokemon world. I can hear the groans already, "not another one of those". Yeah I won't say there's anything really special about mine because there's not, other than the fact the main characters enter the pokemon world in their dreams and re-awaken back in reality every day. Also, the pokemon world in their dreams is much influenced by their own perceptions but it's also reltively stable and consistent (as far as I can manage), and the laws of reality in the dream world don't change by the second like in a regular dream. The genere is kind of drama mixed with paranormal mixed with family mixed with friendship, but mostly drama. Not very action-heavy, there's a little bit of it but not heaps of it.
CPP Chapter 1
"Dililininilinilinilinini....."
"Dun dun dun dudududun! Duh-dun dun dun dudududun,... dun...."
"Din din din didididin...."
"I choose you Typhlosion!"
The little boy threw a plastic red and white ball from behind an over-sized sleeve. It landed on the grass uneventfully. The boy covered the several-sizes-too-big sleeves over his mouth and made a croaking "Typhlosion!" cry.
"That's not how typhlosion sounds!" The large boy opposite him scoffed. "Typhlosion sounds like this! Raurghrblrgh!!"
The little boy posed in his borrowed trench coat, sleeves hanging well below his wrists, and adjusted his big brother's borrowed cap on his head off to the side. "Well MY typhlosion is different! MY typlosion can speak!"
"Nu-uh you can't do that!" The large boy stomped forward towards his friend.
"Can too! Meowth speaks!"
"Yeah but that's the only one that can speak out of ALL the pokemon!" The large boy clenched his fists to his sides. "And-and-and the rules of the game is you can't have talking pokemon!" He nodded his head in agreement to his own words.
"Nu-uh!"
"Uh-huh!"
"I'm telling Richard you're making up the rules as you go!" The little boy turned around, almost tripping up over his borrowed trench coat.
"Then-then-then..." The larger buy's chin quivered as he struggled to find a comeback, "you're not playing pokemon with me ever again!" He nodded his head again as if confirming his own agreement with his words.
Childhood squabbles were common. They were almost always followed by periods of uninterrupted playing and fun. They never stayed angry with each other for long. Most of the time they forgot what they were fighting about, and then just unanimously made up on the spot. They were brothers after all - that's just what brothers do.
Down the line as they got older they changed. They were best friends at home but outside they became more distant. That's natural - they were becoming their own individuals. Seeking their own interests and developing them. They would stifle each other if they stayed together. But there was one thing that they always had time to do together: play pokemon.
Even into their teens.
"Dude you're never going to beat my pokemon!" The sturdier, curly-haired boy slouched on the office chair with his feet up on the desk playing an old-fashioned game boy advance. He boasted, "I'm like thirty levels ahead of you."
"We'll see..." The smaller, skinnier boy rattled away at the keyboard on his laptop while almost simultaneously pressing buttons on his game boy advance SP. "This'll be worth it."
"EV training is boring! Just level up already..."
"I am levelling..."
"You're such a geek you know that?"
"Shaddap! You're a geek!"
There was a knock at the door, and a small, timid voice almost whispered from behind, "Peter, Henry, are you two doing your homework?"
"Yeah mam...!" Henry replied in an automatic tone, shifting his eyes between his laptop and his SP. Peter snickered while thumbing away at his handheld console.
"Good boys. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."
"Sweeet..." Peter cheered.
"Fat ass..." Henry murmured.
"You're a fat ass!"
They were not perfect boys. They got into trouble, they got into fights. They didn't always do their homework on time. They even frequently squabbled with one another. But in spite of this they were inseparable. Although they had their own lives, they both knew that their brother came first.
That night was supposed to be like any other night. They brushed their teeth. They had a shower. They said goodnight to their mother and went to their bedrooms. They got under the bed covers... (and in Peter's case, carrying a handheld console), and went to sleep (in Peter's case, after a few level-ups).
---
Henry squinted his eyes in the sunlight. What a headache. He wiped his forehead with his hand... it was wet. The stench of body odour made him nauseous, and the dryness of his mouth made swallowing impossible. Water. Water, water, water! Need water!
Automatically he shot up out of bed and clutched his aching head. "Great..." he thought. "I hope this isn't flu."
Bleary-eyed he raised his head and had a look around. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He was still clutching his head when he came to realise that... this was not his bedroom. In fact, this was almost certainly not even his house. It was also the first time he had ever seen a thatched roof from the inside. A faint scent of smoke drifted in from outside. The morning sun, low on the horizon, beamed in making the interior of the hut golden.
At this point Henry laughed. "Lucid dream! Hahaha... ow!" He squeezed his hand on his aching forehead. "I'd better wake up though... I feel really sick."
At this point Henry closed his eyes and concentrated. He tried shaking his head around a little, but all it did was exasperate his headache. He opened his eyes... still here. His breathing picked up in pace. He'd had lucid dreams before. He'd always been able to wake up from them. He'd also never felt any pain in them before.
"Oh shoot this is real!" He got up and although his headache was consuming his entire skull by this point, he was more interested in finding out where he was and how he had got there.
The floor was cool on his bare feet, but the sun coming in the hole in the hut that was supposed to be a window made him uncomfortably warm. It was at this point he noticed the chirping of insects as well as birds outside. The only time he ever heard insects at home was in the summer, and they were rare. The odd lone grasshopper maybe, but not the tropical chorus he was hearing now. It wasn't even supposed to be summer time now.
He didn't care that he was dressed in nothing but his boxer shorts. It was far more important to him that he found out where he was. The wooden door to the hut was unlocked and slightly ajar. It made a faint creaking sound as he opened it, revealing to him the outside world. Tropical palms and cycads dominated the scenery. The dry earth was warmer than the stone floors and covered in dry palm leaves.
"Hello?" came a female voice from his left. He turned around trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes so that he could see clearly who was there.
Two figures stood, waiting and watching cautiously. "Where am I?" Henry grumbled.
"You're at our home." One of them replied, the female, still not daring to take an inch further.
"Well, how did I get there? What... what's going on?" Henry noticed his headache again and rubbed his eyes.
"You tell us!" A deep voice grumbled from right next to Henry, causing him to jump in fright. Before he had much of a chance to turn his head to see who it was, he had a spear held to his throat. Out of reflex he backed away, only to have his back meet the wall of the hut.
"That's sharp..." Henry's voice pitched in fright. He didn't dare move forward. Holding the spear was a large bearded, long-haired man. His clothing was unusual, like something worn by an ancient warrior, decorated with turtle and clam shells. His face was crumpled and rough and his eyes told no lies. Henry knew that this man had used this spear before and he was used to using it on people.
"Speak!" The warrior's voice boomed like that of a lion.
Henry tried to speak but his voice was frozen. All he could muster were frightened squeaks.
"Lucas I think you're being just a tad extreme..." The female spoke again, this time she sounded nearer, but Henry did not dare move his head until this "Lucas" pulled the spear away.
When Henry had the chance to look around he realised he was surrounded by three people dressed in armour and armed up to the eyeballs. While he stood there, half-naked and looking down in embarrassment, realising he had just wet himself.
"Who are you?" the woman asked. She was holding some kind of firearm but to Henry's relief it was pointed at the ground.
"I'm Henry..." he cringed at how wussy his voice sounded at this point.
"And? So? What the hell were you doing trying to steal our pokemon last night?"
"Woah, wait what?!" Henry put his hands up submissively. "Listen there's been some kind of misunderstanding..."
"Why else would you break into our compound?" The woman's accompanying male interrogated, with his hand on his sword handle. Henry wanted to do anything to make sure that sword remained sheathed.
"I don't remember anything I swear!" He begged, "Please don't hurt me I'm telling the truth!"
The girl paused a moment and scowled at Henry suspiciously. She turned to Lucas and suggested, "You think we hit him over the head just a little too hard...?"
"No." Lucas grunted and replied honestly, "I don't think we hit him hard enough."
"I'll cooperate! Anything! Just please believe me I don't know what's going on!" Henry began to panic. His voice became wobbly.
"Fine you can begin by telling us who you are and where you're from." The woman instructed demandingly.
Henry nodded in agreement. Anything that would help keep him as far away from their worst side as possible, he was willing to do it. "I'm Henry... I'm from Canada.... well... not for long, I've lived around the states too..." He tried not to give away his fear in his voice but it was futile.
"Never heard of it" The woman's tone of voice was scornful. "You're lying." Her companions readied their weapons. "Give us one good reason why we shouldn't slay you now, theif."
"I... I... I swear I'm telling the truth! Last thing I remember IwenttobedandIwasathomeandthenIwakeuphereandOH GOD DON'T KILL ME!" Henry curled up onto a pathetic sobbing heap on the ground, holding his hands over his head. "Don't kill me..."
The armoured trio looked back and forth between one another, cringing in embarrassment. "This is saaad..." The sword-carrying male commented.
"Fine get up." The woman had had enough of Henry's grovelling.
Henry continued to sob.
"I said get up!"
Henry rose to his feet, hunched over, not daring to look at anyone in the eye or let anyone see the tears on his face. It seemed impossible for him to stop sobbing.
"Come with me..." The girl commanded.
Henry trudged on behind her cautiously, wary of the others who mocked and jeered from behind.
To Henry's disappointment she was not going to help him. She was not even going to free him. She gave him a change of clothes and let him wash in the stream under her strict supervision... under the aim of a gun, no less. An attempt to drink from the stream was met by a threat on his life - as if just being naked and wet with his own urine wasn't bad enough. The fresh clothes she had given him didn't exactly smell or look fresh at all. They were stained and smelled musky. Looking at the old yellow (once white?) shirt he had been given, he noticed a couple of muddy-red stains accompanied by holes. He hoped those were just juice stains or something, but he knew he was kidding himself.
After changing in full view of this woman (which was nowhere near as cool as he had imagined it might be) he approached her cautiously. She did not lower her gun, but simply motioned for him to move in front of her. "Walk. I'll direct you."
Henry spent much of the rest of that day caged. In the sun. Oh, and he had not yet been given any water. He had never experienced such thirst in his life. His stomach ached as it shivered and shook in fear. He just lay on the palm leaves inside his bamboo cage and shivered, despite how hot it was. Looking to his side was the guard. The most sympathetic character he had met so far had threatened to kill him twice. He didn't even want to think about asking this new guard about where this place was or who these people were. What were those crates for... what were they carrying? Why was everybody armed and so damn angry?
One more thing bothered him. He could have sworn they said that they thought he was going to steal their pokemon. No, he must have misheard.. Maybe they said 'firearms' and he just heard 'pokemon' for some strange reason? Why would anyone be so serious about useless electronic data? Were they trying to mess with his mind?
The sun's heat only got stronger as it rose higher in the sky. Henry's mild discomfort was turning into real pain. His skin was turning red and his headache was getting worse. Every so often he could hear strange noises and see strange colours. The dehydration was taking its toll, he assumed. It became unbearable, the headache, the thirst and not knowing what they would do with him next, or if they were just leaving him to die in this cage. He cried out and pleaded to the guard for some water... but there was no response. He started to care less and less about the prospect of being shot as his conscious awareness dwindled away along with his hope. Many thoughts ran through his mind... where these people pirates? Was last night the last time we was ever going to see his brothers and his mother? Was his name going to be splashed on the news?
"This is the one."
Henry had almost passed out by this point when a shadow was cast over him, bringing relief from the blazing heat. The voices were but an echo in his over-heated and delirious mind.
"He doesn't look like he's from around here..." A male voice... kind of soft.
"Well he doesn't claim to be either." Her... from earlier.
"What has he told you?"
"Nothing. But he's weak. He'll talk."
"He can't have found this place by himself."
"We searched the entire circumference of the island. There were no boats, no signs of one either..."
"Then he must have arrived by air."
"You think he's a spy?"
"You didn't find any equipment on him."
"That's true."
"But we can't rule out the possibility... it's just so strange though. He was naked. Literally."
"He could have been assisted by a pokemon."
Henry's eyes opened suddenly. He was in full shade of the trees. It suddenly seemed much cooler and darker. The sky was still light, but it had a pinkish tinge from the low angle of the sun. The songs from the birds and insects had changed into a slower, more rhythmic tune. Looking around he couldn't find the two individuals that had been having a conversation about him. He must have been dreaming that last part. Surely... though he didn't feel like he had really slept.
By this point the headache had levelled out to a constant. It didn't matter if he sat up or lay down, he wasn't going to be able to rest with it. Sitting up he looked around for the guard. It seemed nobody was watching him.
"Hi."
A tiny voice made Henry jolt. He looked around but couldn't find the source.
"Hello."
It was a child's voice... but from where?
"Up here, silly."
Henry looked up to see the silhouette of a small animal standing on the bars along the top of the cage. He couldn't make out exactly what it was, but it seemed like some kind of over-sized, long-nosed, tail-less shrew. Henry figured some kind of freaky tropical island animal he'd only heard of on the news. But where was the child?
"I've been watching you."
Henry yelped and fell back away from the animal. "Did that animal just....?"
"Hey, I'm not just an animal!" The creature's nose poked through the bars.
"Oh my gad!" Henry started to flail in his cage.
"Shhh! Don't be scared. I saw."
"This is a hallucination isn't it? I'm flipping out! I've lost it haven't I?"
"No... oh so sad! They really scared you didn't they?" The little creature scampered across the bars and hopped down onto the ground next to the cage.
"I saw you appear out of thin air. How did you do that?" The child-like voice asked, though Henry refused to believe it was coming from the animal.
"I don't know... I don't know what's going on." Henry couldn't believe he was talking to what he assumed to be the result of hallucination.
"Well, I just spoke with your captor. She's my trainer!"
"Trainer?"
"Uh-huh. She takes care of me and makes me stronger. She's actually really nice when you get to know her."
Henry looked round at the animal. It was standing on its hind legs this time. "I told her about what I saw. I really don't think you meant to come here. We pokemon can sense those kinds of things. I know you're telling the truth."
"P-pokemon?!" Henry stammered, before mumbling something incoherent.
"Uh... yeah? You never seen a pokemon talk before?"
Henry's body began to tingle. He could feel himself becoming weak, unable to hold himself steadily upright. A sudden exhaustion and nausea overcame his body, and the only thing that came easy for him was to close his eyes and drift off...
---
Why he was surprised to wake up in his own bed he didn't know. Henry only knew that there was something very much not right about that dream. He felt horrendous. Slipping out of his bed he put his feet on his own bedroom carpet. His legs felt like jelly. The moment he let go of the support of his bed his legs collapsed and he fell onto his floor. His head still pounded and his throat was still dry.
After getting up he trudged through to the kitchen. He rubbed his forehead, noticing a huge lump had formed just above his hair line. He remembered how strange dreams can occur when one is dehydrated, or sick, or if they've had a concussion. He reasoned with himself that it was the most likely explanation. A bash to the head during the night, perhaps... though his bedroom walls were not really that hard and he didn't have a head-stand to accidentally bash his head on.
Instead of going for the cereal cupboard, his first stop was the medicine cupboard. He had hardly noticed his own mother and brother already in the kitchen eating.
"Henry you look like crap." Peter commented between mouthfuls of cheerios.
"Oh he's right, honey are you okay?" His mother added.
Henry could only manage a grumble before he gulped down some pills in a glass of water with a shaky hand.
"Henry how many did you take there?"
"Two..." Henry could only manage a whisper.
"Good boy. I think we need to make a doctor's appointment for you." There was a moment of silence before she continued, "Henry... have you been using a sun-bed? Do be honest dear, I will find out."
"No mam." Henry downed another glass of water and filled it up again under the faucet.
"Henry...." her voice became more scornful.
"I said no, mam." Henry's raised voice was muffled by the glass he was drinking from.
"Hahaha you look like a frickin' lobster, dude!"
Henry looked down at his hands. One of them was a bit pink, but the other was quite definitely sun-burnt. On top of that his whole body ached and stung.
"Looks like you had a worse night than I had dude." Peter stuffed his face before spurting out his next sentence (along with half-chewed soggy cheerios), "Seriously the dream I had last night was epic. I can remember every little detail!"
"Peter don't talk with your mouth full" said his mother.
"I don't think mine was a dream, dude..." Henry whispered to himself, out of earshot of his mother and brother.
