When I was young, before all of the debt and the adult duties, I actually used to play my fair share of Pokemon, mainly the fire red one because it was my favorite. I would be stuck weeks in the elite four smashing buttons without a thought, then a miracle would happen, and finally I would be able to beat the game. After that I would forget about it for a long time to then come back and found a new game started with Red stuck in Viridian forest with an a over leveled Charmeleon thanks to my little brother.

  Seeing a creature from my childhood games standing in front of me was something else. Large, wide and intelligent eyes. Short arms that barely could touch its oversized head. Yellow fur covering all of its chubby body except the snout and a turf of... hair? in top of its head. I really can't stop glancing at it every time it is near since last night.

  Playing Pokemon was something before transitioning to other more physical-like games, Basketball was a thing until it wasn't no more in my teens. I remember starting Pokemon Sapphire at some point in my memories, but the cartdrige just went dead for some reason before saving some professor from a dog and a kid telling me that I couldn't leave the town without a companion. Old times.

  Yesterday was a wake-up call. A Gastly made me felt like I would have a heart attack with this young body of mine. Every time I close my eyes I could hear that laugh. The chilling sensation it left on my back. The goosebumps in my skin. Everything felt surreal but tangible as if it was happening all again. I haven't feel this conscious about myself since the last time I could move my body at will, in that street with those two motherfuckers, well almost at will. But here I am, sitting in a crib-like structure while my new family, humans and Pokemon included, glanced at me sporadically.

  

  The knife in Mom's hand followed through the Onion in waves. Her eyes were glassy, and sniffs could be heard from time to time. She turned back and stirred a pan sizzling with some kind of meat. "Stop looking at me like that, we had this conversation last night."

  Dad put the papers in his hand to the side briefly, "I know babe, but look at him. He is so small..." Dads eyes smiled sadly in my direction.

  Mom's eyes briefly flickered towards me, it was followed by a slight tug of the corner of her mouth. "I told you he is fine, he is a tough boy. Ducky smacked the door when he heard him crying like that." She touched softly the Psyducks head with her foot before returning to the vegetables in the table.

  Dad put down the documents in his hands. "But you know what happened before that, just..." He took a breath in. "Imagine being alone and a ugly looking ball you have never seen just pop out from the wall."

  "It was just a pranker Claude." She cut him short, not letting him finish the last word.

  "Yes Lori, but what if it wasn't?" The last syllabe was barely more than a whisper.

  Loren looked straight to his eyes "That's my whole point love, what if Ducky wasn't out of his ball at that moment?" she paused, "Would Blazy have been fast enough without breaking the damn house down looking for him?" Her voice was sharper than before.

  "I know you are right honey, but, but..." He sat down and looked the papers in the table, "I should have been there for him. I promised him" He finished. Mom dropped the knife and put the kitchen apron away and started walking towards him.

  I don't know how I got here, but maybe this is an opportunity. Maybe knowing that fire is super effective against grass and grass against water could help me in this world and make me someone important. But no, my gaze followed the dark skin of Mom hugging Dad. My heart melt every time I saw them, everything my little body could felt toward both of their figure is love. Every time I felt their warm touch and the following words filled with kindness the world would mute. Probably its the hormones associated with being a baby, I don't know, but maybe this time I could have a simple and loving relation with my parents. Maybe.

  The Psyduck walked comically towards me and just stood beside me, like a guard dog protecting his favorite person in the world.

  "Okay babe, look we can do this, lets start with Ducky and the other smaller ones. Its that acceptable for you? Mom said softly with her arms around him.

  "Yes, yes, I think that can work." His voice was muffled by her. "So what should we do? Should we present the team to Aris?" He said louder.

  "That's perfect for me" she replied with a slight smile in her face. She started walking towards the side of the table where she was cutting vegetables and grabbed a bag. Both of them came to where I was.

  "Hey Aris," My dad said, "I was looking to present some of our friends to you."

  My arms flailed around. It was my attempt to accept the offer they were making to me. I really hoped they have a Dragonite or something good like that. Maybe they could make it have a Dratini to be my starter. Who knows, let a man dream.

  Dad's hand went to his second highest left pocket, maybe thats the reason he wears cargo pants so much. He grabbed a pokeball and pressed the button in the middle, it expanded quickly with a popping sound. Red light illuminated the room, just like the supposed "Blazy" did yesterday in my room.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A blur of black and gray, its body compact and its eyes fierce. A crimson streak on its head made it look like it had just been through a battlefield, yet there was an elegance in how it stood. Its wings, when fully stretched, seemed bigger than what its body should allow, and its sharp talons gripped the floor like it was the only thing that kept it from defying the skies.

  It fluttered its heavy wings, a breeze touched my face and expanded to the rest of the room. Some of the documents on the table dropped from it. Dad shook its head at the view. The bird gaze came towards me, it analyzed every inch of my body. Eyes calculating and intense. "That's Starapto-" Dad didn't finish, "STAAAAR." It shrieked loudly and closed its wings in its body.

  Holy shit. That thing looks like it belongs in a nature documentary where it kills and eats everything smaller than itself. Okay, maybe I don't need a Dragonite. I need to find a way to keep this thing away from me while I sleep.

  I found my fists clenched, my body tense and I needed to breathe to relax my muscles. "Easy there, Star. Don't scare him, he's your little new brother now," Loren said, hitting the birds side while laughing.

  "Okay, make way for the others Star," said Dad with a side eye to the bird. Staraptor appeared to nod and moved away from the spot it was. A new light showered a new figure, a quadruped covered in sleek fur, bright yellow and deep blue. Its mane looked like a jagged crown of lightning, and there was a crackling hum around it, as if it was storing energy in its body. Its sharp blue eyes were piercing, scanning the room like a predator in its domain. When it stopped on me it softened, just as how my dad would do. "And that's Manectric, he is a softie inside of all of that menacing fur," Dad presented him to me. "I don't know who he reminds me of." Mom chipped in. The blue and yellow beast walked slowly towards me, its snout stopped centimeters away from my cheek, and it closed the distance at a crawls pace.

  The hell?! Did I just get tased by a dog? My hair stood up, the muscles in my cheek and near my face tensed a little bit. I laughed inside and my body responded in the same way. Okay it's cool, it literally could be a police dog and a taser. Double trouble.

  Dad laughed loudly watching the situation. "He likes you, Aris. If he didn't, you would know." Manectric growled and spun on itself before walking to the side where Star was standing. The bird squeaked to the dog and stepped away from it. Manectric ignored the bird, but the moment Staraptor looked away, a faint spark jumped from its mane, zapping the bird just enough to make it flinch. Staraptor let out a sharp with its beak before slapping Manectric’s snout with its wing, more annoyed than angry.

  It was Moms turn now, she stepped back and bring out a small pokeball in her hand that expanded. Another red flash. Unlike the others, this one wasn’t intimidating. It was shorter, more compact, but had a strange presence. Its green body was slender, almost humanoid, and in each of its hands it held what looked like oversized flowers, one red, one blue. A mask-like formation covered the upper half of its face, giving it an elegant, almost mysterious look. I'm pretty sure I saw the pre evolution of this one at some moment in my previous life, it fits the bill with the flowery hands.

  It moved, tiny and graceful steps with a clear destination. The petals in its arms intertwined with each other, not a thorn on sight. When it stopped it bowed elegantly as if saying "Greetings, your gracious." And with a fluent movement closed the distance and offered me one of its roses, it put it on my hand and I tried to grabbed it. After a while I could finally accept the offering as my body allowed me a little bit of control. Suddenly it spun on itself and orange polen flew in every direction. "Oh not again , Rosie. You will help me cleaning that." Mom said. I sneezed loudly 2 times in a row. This thing is cool... But it is also kind of annoying. If it throws polen in my way again we are throwing hands. "So yeah, that's Roserade, Honey. She likes to show off, just like me. She's a performer at heart." My mom said while petting the strange flowery man on its head. Mom stood up and Rosie made the last dramatic reverence and ran away to Moms side.

  I could tell Mom enjoyed this, it was like a little private showcase of who she was.

  Mom told Dad to step back a little bit. I know who this could be, another red beam struck the room. Towering over the others, its body was humanoid but covered in thick, red and cream-colored feathers. Long, powerful legs were wrapped in tufts of fire-like plumage, and sharp talons extended from its feet. Its arms ended in curved claws, and its eyes… its blue eyes burned with an intensity that made it clear it was the strongest in the room. And it knew it too. Yeah, how I could ever forget my best friend in this world besides Ducky. The room temperature appeared to elevate by its mere presence by a few degrees. Roserade stepped away in disconfort. The beast of a Pokemon just stood there, the abscense of action gave a message as well. It looked at me just as yesterday. Hard, a prideful and unmovable object like a mountain to conquer. Okay, this one? This one is different. No bullshit, not a pet. A warrior. "Blazy doesn't trust anybody too easily, but he will protect you, no matter what." Mom said with a smile in her face. 'Blazy' nodded slowly in my direction.

  "We have more friends to present you, Aris. Maybe when you grow up a little bit." Dad said while recalling Staraptor who looked kind of uncomfortable inside. Mom did the same for Blazy and went for the broom.

  Pokémon always seemed smaller in the games. But standing here, I couldn't ignore how much space they actually took up. Alright, I guess I need to learn everything again. Should be fun and maybe I have a bit of and advantage with my parents being trainers.

  "The Indigo situation keeps going worse, yesterday Kanto claimed a resource site of highly pure metals used for creating the case of the modern Pokeball in the border. How much this situation can escalate things there Doctor Ziemn?" The silence of the room suddenly made way for the old TV. Indigo? Kanto? Border? What are they talking about? Why would exist tensions in Kanto and Johto?

  "Yes, Hello Kent and everybody, it is expected that this move from Kanto escalates highly the existing tension there. As it has been made public this last years, since the creation of the modern Pokeball things in Indigo have been rough, the relationship between the neighbor regions are in a all time low. We expect that everyday from now will be like a time bomb. Fabio has been adamant this morning about the situation, the champion of Johto said the claim has no floor to stand on its own..."The new voice joined in. What the fuck? Fabio? Who is that? Where is Lance? I remember him, he was supposed to be the champion of Indigo? I haven't even think about where I am, this is definitely not the games timeline. Dad stopped on his tracks as well as my Mom, both of them kept following the TV news like as if being hypnotized. Claude scowled and my Mom sat down, after a few minutes both looked at each other. The mood grew heavy as sleep entered my body.