A New World, Another Day

Ohhhhhhhhhh, ow. This just sucks. This pain is unbearable.

Hey, wait a second.

If I can feel pain, then I'm still alive! WOOO!

I think I pumped my fists in the air, but more pain just shot through them. I tentatively lowered them back down. Ouch.

I figured if the darkness didn't already choke me to death, then this agony coursing through my veins would probably finish me off. Shiza.

My brain had finally picked back up on some of its other senses besides touch. I could begin smelling and hearing again. Sight was lacking a bit, and taste only offered a disgusting pinch of copper. No wait, that's just a teaspoon of blood.

It was like my senses were trying to bake an unpleasant mental cake, since the scents I picked up were enough to make me wretch a little. Arceus, and what I was hearing was a becoming a very potent part of this sensational dessert of pain.

A young, male voice was talking to someone. "......-ing's still alive, Rotten Tooth." I heard. Rotten Tooth? Is that a codename?

What I assumed was "Rotten Tooth" replied back with, "Lovely. T'at means we'll have ta kill dis thing 'fore we can eat 'im." Ech, no wonder he got that nickname. He sounds like the kind of guy who doesn't brush his teeth all that ofte-

Hang on a second. Eat him? Who are they talking about? Surely these hobos aren't hunting pokémon?! Or.... me? No no, they wouldn't, right?

A third voice, a female, interjected. "This dude's pretty big, though. Are we gonna be able to kill him AND have the strength to haul back his ass to town?" Maybe they weren't talking about me then. Unless they were refering to...

Nevermind that. My blurry eyes were beginning to focus again, and I'm not sure I like what I'm seeing. The sky (at least, what I assume is the sky. I'm laying on my back) was conpletely overcast with a strangely depressing grey. I'm not one to consider an overcast of clouds "depressing" or "gloomy". I just see them as sacks of air that are waiting to release moisture. But this just emanated "GLOOM" to me. And the landscape was worse, so far. All I saw was dark, ominous shapes in the distance, and the ground had no grass whatsoever. No green, no plants. Just dirt.

But worst of all, I saw the small party of hungry hobos through a blurry haze. They looked really short for some reason, and there were more of them than I anticipated. Six of these... short people were all gathered around me. And facing me. With shotguns and rifles. Armed and loaded. And three more of them were back a distance, near another short man with a rifle.

Rotten Tooth, who I assumed was the leader, began swearing at me. "Goddesses-dammit! 't's awake now! Dinner'll be difficult t'night, boys! Ready your weapons!" OH NO. It's me, it's so me! But cannibals?! What kind of monsters are these guys?!

I saw one of the weaponless guys start to shift uncomfortably. The dude behind him/her whacked the person in the side with their weapon with a grunt, and the person stood still again. Strangely enough, the man with the weapon used his head to keep the other one in place.

Rotten Tooth looked back at the small group. "Keep those slaves 'n check, Gut Buster! 'r else ya'll won't be gettin dinner t'night!" And they were slave drivers too?! DAFUQ, legendaries?! This isn't legal anywhere I've been!

But I was obviously not in a familiar land. That dumb portal actually worked, even though I have no idea where I am or how to get home. So I was in another part of the world. But even then, I still couldn't think of any foreign country where slave driving was still legal. Was I in a land where it was? You know what, who cares? It shouldn't be legal anywhere, and that's all that matters to me.

And don't get all pissy with me, politicians, for making this legal and just expecting me to LEAVE YOU ALONE. You should've thought of that before I burned down your slave farms, jack-asses.

Meanwhile, in reality, the slave drivers were aiming their guns right at me.

Huh? Oh, SHIZA, they're aiming their guns right at me!

My instincts kicked in, and saved me from becoming Miles Stew. My body rolled to the side, half a second before one of these fuckwads to my left fired their shotgun at me. And judging by how it only barely scraped my left shoulder, these guys weren't the best shots.

Still, as light as that wound was, it still hurt like a bitch. I clutched my shoulder with my right hand, and attempted to stand up to my full height.

That was a mistake, doing both at once. I honestly don't know which thing sent the shocking message to my brain first: the fact that my skin on my shoulder felt all slick and way too smooth to be human skin, that my hand felt incredibly weird and really large, or that my height felt really off, and my legs felt unnatural to stand up like that. Which was a little strange, considering that I had been standing like that for the past who knows how many years now.

Yeah, I was freaking out.

And of course, I couldn't stand there and scream like an idiot about something stupid, like how my hands felt so large, I was legitimately worried I had cancer. Those small people were still trying to kill me. Oh, and my eyes were adjusted finally, but I couldn't tell. Because those small people did not look like people at all. They actually looked like... ponies.

Not pokémon that were ponies, like Ponyta or Keldeo, just straight-up baby horses. With guns and slave ponies in tow. That at least seemed to explain the aiming problem they had. And that somehow was not freaking me out, but whatever. I was already disoriented and confused. Talking Ponyta-esque creatures? Why not?

I needed to get out of there, but it was the middle of a freaking desert, and any cover that could be offered to me were scattered thinly across the empty expanse.

Wait, that rock over there looks sturdy, and a great place to calm down and assess the situation. But I can't get there fast enough before they eventually hit me. Even these guys could shoot me before I take cover.

BLAM. Too late, I'm already running. That shot only missed me by a few inches, and I wasn't about to stick around to find out how these crooks would fare in the next shot.

I took off at a speed that really surprised me, the slave drivers' weapons loudly attempting to catch me with their bullets. Seriously, I nearly ran right past the boulder, I was going so fast. The outcropping only went up to my waist, but that didn't matter to me. I crouched below the rock to escape the enemy's barrage, in a position that felt similiar to a Greninja-

.....Shiza. I decided to chance a look at my hands, praying to Arceus that I was just horribly drugged into thinking my body was unnatural, and not actually a.... a....

MOTHER FUCKING PALKIA ON A STICK.

I'm a Greninja. There was no way around it. I had seen them before, taken classes where I'd learnt about their anatomy and behaviours. I had the "hands" of one. Looking down, I had the body of one. I felt around my new body, checking to make that I at least made a full transformation, and I wasn't some gross mutant. But no, I was a full-on Greninja. Looking between my legs, I saw my..... thing was not to be found. I could only assume it was just concealed under a flap or something. I still felt it.

You know what, I really should stop. I can practically hear the ladies screaming in disgust already.

A PEW right out of a cartoon alerted me to my current predicament. So I was a Greninja now, and I'm in some sort of cartoon world with talking, multi-colored horses. Oh, and it's apparently a post-apocalypse cartoon world on top of that, merely from observation of my surroundings.

I realized that these guys were also pretty intent on killing me and having my corpse for food. I instinctively reached for my belt, hoping to those pretty cruel legendaries that I could formulte some plan that didn't involve any of us becoming hunting targets.

But then I realized that I was alone, (and had no belt). My team did not follow me through that black hole. They probably would have, if I let them. But I gave what was kind of my family direct orders to not jump in after me. And now here I am, with nobody to help me this time.

My options limited, along with my time, I decided to try a diplomatic approach. I usually don't even consider diplomatic moves when it comes to absolute @^$holes like slave drivers. But seeing as how I had no way of fighting back at the time, I decided to give it a shot anyway.

"HEY!" I called out, emerging from behind the rock slowly with my ridiculously long arms held high, "DON'T SHOOT! Maybe we can talk this out?!" Lame, I know, but fuck you, my life was at stake.

The malicious ponies stopped coming towards my shelter for a few moments to listen to what I had to say. But what happened next utterly confused me. One of the younger males turned to an older, dirtier male, and said, "I think he's saying something, Rotten Tooth. Maybe he's surrenderin'?"

Rotten Tooth looked at me for another few seconds, pondering something. "Ah beleeve he is. E's got 'is arms up in tha air. But all Ah hear is "Ninja Gre Greninja" 'r somethin'." He grimaced in my direction, then at his fellow criminals. "Personally, Ah think e's tauntin us."

Oh, son of a-

The grundgey equine turned back at me, then cocked his weapon with his head... somehow. How do these guys even use the weapons? If the gun's in their mouth, do they pull the trigger with their tongues or something?

"Let's kill 'im brutally and all slow-like." They pointed their guns at me again, resuming their approach, and continued their barrage. I ducked before they got a shot in, but it was only a matter of time before the circled around my impromptu bunker and shot me point-blank. They would probably do it Robo Cop-style too. Difference being that 100 bullets would most likely not leave me with any solid body parts left, let alone in a salvageable state.

Another thing that bugged me was that I thought these creatures could communicate with pokémon. But they couldn't, somehow, and only heard "Gre Greninja". So that's what it felt like to travel with humans who couldn't understand you. Sure, I knew some trainers who had Psychic types or even a few select Dark types who had telepathic powers, and acted as translators for themselves and their teams.... but....

Hell, I even met a couple of trainers who were, ahem, really friendly with their Psychic partners. But that political mess is another story for another time.

PEW PEW. More shots rang off of the rock, as if enough bullets would make it crumble. But it would withhold. Dammit, if only I could fight back or something. But I had no pokémon with me, or any knowledge of martial arts.

........

........

........

Ever had one of those moments where you thought or said something relating to a current problem you had, only to realize the solution is A.(Right there in front of you, B.(Is so genius and soundly amazing, and C.(So obvious and stupidly simple that you feel like an imbecile for not thinking of it sooner?

I did.

I was a pokémon now. And not just any pokémon, no. I was a Arceus-damn Greninja, baby.

Problem was, I had no idea how to use any of my new powers or abilities. Was there a trick to it, or was it just a matter of thinking of wanting it to happen, and it just does?

Another gunshot sounded, scarily close to my position. I had to figure out how to use these moves right now.

Okay okay, so what's a move that's a popular attack among water-types? Um..... Water Pulse! Yeah! That should do the job.

Now, um.... Water Pulse? I tried to visualize creating an energy ball made of water, thinking of using Water Pulse myself. I held out my hands, straining to do something. But nothing did.

I could hear the quick hoofsteps of the enemy coming closer, so I tried harder, doing my best to make something happen, to use Water Pulse. This time, I managed to create a little sapphire ball of energy in my hands. It fizzled out within a second, but it was progress.

Progress that was too slow. I heard them reloading their guns, now just a few feet away from the boulder. They knew that I was a sitting duck, so they wanted to make it fun for themselves.

DAMN.

I knew what needed to be done now, or at least the backbone of using the move. I closed my eyes, so that I could fully concentrate on my task. I willed myself to not let anything distract me from unleashing my potential. Then, like someone flipped a mental switch, my senses dulled, and it felt like I was not in a wasteland, but in a calm meadow.

And at the same time, they were heightened, sensing everything with greater clarity than my eyes could manage. It was weird, but soothing. Is this what they call Nirvana? I dunno.

I used my entire mind to concentrate, to accomplish my mission: create Water Pulse.

Water Pulse. Water Pulse. Like it was breathing, this phrase went out of my mind, and into my being. Water Pulse. Water Pulse. Water Pulse. I went faster, faster, while all of existence went slower, slower. I had achieved a state of total concentration. Water Pulse. Water Pulse. WATER PULSE.

I had begun pushing harder, making the ins and outs go faster, making sure they did not miss a single beat. No clock worked properly with even just a slight dent in one of the tiny cogs inside it. It still hindered true progress and functionality. Water Pulse. Water Pulse! Water Pulse! I created a sense of enlightenment inside myself. I now knew how Pokémon drew power from themselves, how they drew their attacks and moves from a vast well of potential. Water Pulse! Water Pulse! WATER PULSE! WATER PULSE!

I understood the amount of strength it took to use such power. What it took to bring the imaginary into the real. What was required to make a pokémon truly powerful in it's own right. WATER PULSE! WATER PULSE! WATER PULSE! WATER PULSE! It did not matter that these slavers wanted to kill me like a wild animal. It did not matter that they were armed and right behind my physical and meaningless barrier. It did not matter if they thought they had the odds stacked their favor. It did not matter. Why?

WATER PULSE! WATER PULSE!!! WATER PULSE!!! Because they were extremely wrong.

My senses all kicked back in to their normal state, leaving me in the same spot as before.

But I knew exactly where each and every crook was standing, and where I need to aim this new torrent of energy and power to maximize damage.

I didn't realize it at the time, but now I know that whenever a pokémon uses a specific move, they always call it out in pokéspeak, like a battle cry. Kind of like how that one loud-mouthed and weird trainer had his Pikachu use Electro Ball. The Pikachu said something like, "Piiikaaaa... CHU PI!" everytime he used that move. Now I know it was because in pokéspeak, he was just saying "Electro Ball!". It sounds obvious now, but you really need to understand that when you're in the heat of battle, you don't really care WHAT kind of battlecry they're saying.

Anyway, I mention this because I jumped out from behind the rock, and shouted "WATER PUUULSE!!!" at the top of my lungs, which probably sounded more like "GREEE NINJAAA!" to non-pokémon. The slavers were taken aback by my confidence and battle cry, not expecting me to be very violent towards them when I was cowering and running away in fear just a couple of minutes ago. I flung my arms forward, unleashing a devastating Water Pulse at them.

The ball of energy flew towards it's intended target: the legs of one of the armed ponies that stood in the middle of the pack. The Water Pulse connected with the appendages, and caused an explosion that sent the hostiles flying in every direction. The unfortunate pony that got the brunt of the blast rolled across the ground in a dazed heap, not immediately realizing that he only had two mangled legs still attached to his body.

Ohhhhh.... ouch. Clearly, these creatures' bodies weren't even as durable as the average human's, who had bones and muscle that could withstand the average pokémon attack.

I landed on the ground, and looked at my new hands. Even as someone who had never used an attack before, I still dealt serious damage to these beings, KOing a few of them, leaving the others dazed and with minor injuries, even crippling one of them. I was suddenly granted powers that were unheard of.... outside of Castelia city on a friday night, when the Green Sableye went on a killing spree, and Spinarak Man had to save the day.

I couldn't dwell on that subject for too long, however, once the horses picked themselves back up. One of them had lost their shotgun, and seemed pretty sore about it. So what I assumed was a "she" pulled out a hatchet, and galloped towards me with the weapon swinging dangerously around.

So naturally, I decided to get the f out of Dodge, and vaulted myself up into the air. It was unexpected how high I could really jump. It was easily a couple of yards, if not higher, and I almost fell flat on my face. But I managed to land of my feet, and I sped away at a pace that left them all in the dust.

This time, I REALLY wanted to go fast, so I poured all of my energy into running with like a madman. Or maybe it's a madmon now?

So imagine the look on my face when I was surrounded by a bright, white light. I went even faster than I thought was possible. One of the males foolishly jumped into my path, wanting to block me off. He didn't expect me to headbutt him so hard that he would flip backwards. He was utterly helpless now, and couldn't get out of the way fast enough to avoid being trampled to death by my speedy form.

I had finally gained some considerable distance between me and the jerks. When I noticed that their bullets could not even hit me at my distance, I looked back at my attackers. The crippled pony had not gotten up, and didn't seem to be breathing. And the trampled one was not moving either. I had probably caused his cranium to cave in, and my feet had finished the job. The same female that had the hatchet was now hovering over the dead stallion's head, tears in her eyes. Another mare slowly walked over, and put her hoof on the crying girl's heaving shoulder.

I felt a pang of guilt. But I couldn't allow myself to feel sorry for those who chose to hurt others so that they could take their belongings for themselves. Namely their lives.

I was now a fair distance away from those violent equines, perched on a dead tree. I had found myself in a large plot of land that held a vast number of dead plants, the occasional skeleton sprinkling the ground. I had originally thought that this was a dead forest, but a barn and some piles of broken and burned wood suggested otherwise. It seemed to actually be what was left of an orchard.

The trees that withstood whatever nuke that went off in the area were knocked down, wilted to a point of balsawood fraility, or was just a blackened husk of it's former self. The piles of wood probably used to be farmhouses, and were completely decimated, but it was the barn that caught my attention.

The old thing actually managed to withstand the catastrophe, and only had minimal damage compared to it's surroundings. Some beams were cracked and bent, sure, and huge holes punched through it, but it still stood strong, defiant of the apocolypse's unforgiving wrath. It impressed me, needless to say.

But that just brought up an avalanche of questions that seemingly had no answers. I rubbed my wounded shoulder, the stinging within still prevalent, as I thought about it. Why was I not a human anymore? Where did that portal send me? What happened to this place? What were those weird horses, and why were they so violent?

And the big kicker: would I ever find a way home?

Those questions, among a throng of others, plagued my mind, unrelenting in their curiosity.

At least I knew I was not on my world at all. Hell, I probably wasn't even in the same dimension. There was no denying just how... off and wrong everything was.

I did not have the time to dwell on it back then, but I had used a full blown pokémon attack on those animals. Without much remorse, might I add. This brought forth more questions, of course.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for those poor creatures, forced to live in a world they don't want to live in. A world where their selfish and horrible ancestors had no hesitation for leaving their problems for their children to solve. A world where they had to resort to violence and killing each other off, just because the actions of the past made a waste to their future.

My eyes widened when I remembered something. I hopped off of the dead tree, and began scoping out my surroundings, hoping to find something that would lead me back to those slave drivers.

It was stupid, I know, but I couldn't help it. Those jackasses had captured other ponies, forcing them to become their slaves. Who knows what horrors those armed horses would have caused if left to their own devices. But I wasn't about to let criminals get away from me.

About a half hour's walk away was a town. It didn't seem to fare very well against the Horsemen either, but at least a few buildings were left standing. I wasn't very wary of my surroundings, something which this wasteland would not let me go unpunished for. I heard something coming from the alley behind me, like a trashcan was nudged. Thank goodness I turned right when I did, or a bullet would have implanted itself within my neck. Instead, I got shot in my right arm. I cried out in agony, not forseeing the attack.

I heard someone cussing. I looked around in a panicked state, now knowing that standing right out in the open was not the best course of action. Against my better judgement, I dived into the alleyway, and out of any sniper's range.

I heard more cussing, signaling I was momentarily safe. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth, only to be cut short by something cold rubbing against my side. My eyes pointed in the direction of the object, seeing a sharp knife against my ribs. It seemed to be floating, like it was a possessed weapon. Or like a poltergiest had found me, and wanted to f with my head.

I rubbed my eyes, hoping that I was just seeing things. But the knife remained against me, carressing me with the brunt of it's blade. I was thoroughly confused when I noticed that it was wrapped in a dark purple aura, as if it was within a pokémon's Psychic. Only Psychic-types could levitate things, however, and their auras were always blue, not purple.

What happened next completely made me flip my lid. A pony came out of the shadows in a manner that was thoroughly creepy. It was a mare, and she had an unhinged smile adorning her face. I saw that another purple aura was coming from the female's forehead. But when she came close enough that I could see her entire body, she was revealed to have a horn.

So that meant she was a freaking unicorn. I was seriously questioning if I didn't just go crazy inside that machine, and that maybe I was just in some psychiatric ward.

The mare's horn was the purple light's source. I put two and two together and figured that she was using a form of Psychic on the knife.

That meant that I was in some serious danger now. I wanted to get out of there as quick as possible, but the knife stopped moving gently across my skin, resting right over my left thigh. The mare edged closer, giving me a seductive look. I cringed as she moved her way too close to mine, and breathed into my ear (or earholes, whatever).

She giggled smoothly, caressing my chest with her firm hoof. Arceus, it was creepy. "It's a good thing that Sharp Shooter didn't kill you. I wanted to have the immense pleasure of slipping my knife into you." She paused to calm herself. "I always liked the big boys. And you seem plenty big, mister."

OHHHHHHHHH, MY. This girl gets off on killing?! Dafuq?

I was pretty sure that this girl was about to have an orgasm, but she just looked at me, and gave me a madman's grin. I think you need a shrink, woman. Or maybe a straight jacket.

I screamed when a sharp pain entered my side, making my vision blurry and hard to see through. I didn't want to look, already knowing that this bitch had planted the knife in my thigh, and that blood was gushing out of the wound. I just glared at her, knowing that she was enjoying my pain and my screaming to a ridiculous degree. She closed her huge eyes, moaning in ecstasy. This mare had some serious mental issues, and it was time I added to that.

Grabbing the slender unicorn by her sides, I tossed her across the alley, making her smack against the opposing wall. The aura surrounding her horn diminished, halting the knife's progress into my leg. I groaned, feeling pain still coursing through my being. The mare was picking herself back up off of the ground, and seemed to be ready for round two. I decided to try and use Water Pulse again, seeing as how it was my only defense at the time.

This time around, I found it a lot easier to do than the first time. I didn't have to go total zen in order to use the move, but I still needed complete concentration. Luckily, I unleashed the move before the madmare could jump me. But I did not expect that a Water Pulse at point blank range would cause as much damage to the pony as it did. I struck her square in the chest, causing a stomach-churning dent in her body, and her front limbs were blown completely off her body. Her head suffered from severe whiplash, and her neck doubled over backwards in an unnatural position. And the force of the blast flung her against the wall, causing a large red splat of jam to spread behind her. And with that, the freak was gone.

I would normally be struggling to not barf at the gruesome sight I had caused, but my thigh kept my attention pretty preoccupied. I had to find something to cover my wound, or else I would be stuck with a knife in my leg, and I would slowly bleed to death. I had already lost enough blood to blur my vision. I desperately looked around the alley, hoping that there was something in there that would cover the gash. My eye finally laid themselves on the dead pony's body.

I had little hesitation in looting the corpse. She wouldn't be using them, anyhow.

I found some moldy rations, a water canteen with only a little bit of water left in it, some tattered gauze, and.... some unmentionable toys. Taking a deep breath, I grabbed hold of the knife, knowing I had to make it quick. I yanked out the blade, crying out all the while. I threw the weapon to the side, and swiftly used the liquid I acquired to clean out the wound as best I could. Then I wrapped the gauze tightly around my thigh, blocking off any more wayward blood.

Whimpering, I decided it was best to lean back against the alleyway walls for a few minutes. The breath I needed was slowly coming back, and I was starting to see clearly again.

I was still in agony, however. The first hour here in this hellhole, and I had already gained some wounds to commemorate my arrival. It sucked. This looked to be a bad omen of things to come.

I heard voices coming from outside the alleyway. More of these armored creatures had been alerted to my presence, most likely from me making so much noise. Great.

I groaned once again as I picked myself up off the ground, clutching my shot arm, and hobbled over to the way out. I was going to have to make a run for it.

"Well, ain't that just dandy." I snarked, "I become a rather powerful pokémon, and yet I'm still forced to run around like a chicken while these monsters take cheap shots at my ass." Shaking my head, I began my escape from Terror Town. "Those slaves better not try to kill me too when I find them."