I woke up to a splitting headache and a unfamiliar ceiling. Trying to remember what happened, I recall driving to work and a truck running a red light. The next thing I know I'm waking up in a unfamiliar room.
Is this a hospital? As I try to sit up a sharp pain goes through my head as memories that aren't mine surface in my mind, apparently I died and got reincarnated. The body I'm in now has the same name as my previous life Jake Grady and I'm only three years old. As I try to piece my jumbled memories together I look up and see something that makes me freeze.
There sitting on my bed staring right at me was a monster. I was so scared I couldn't move or make a sound, then I noticed something...I recognized that monster, it was a pokemon. Holy F**cking Sh*t I'm in the Pokemon world. I was ecstatic. I loved playing the Pokemon games and here in front of me was one of my favorite Pokemon a Growlithe. I reached out with my hand towards the Pokemon and he gave a little puppy bark as he jumped on me and I heard footsteps.
"Are you awake my little one?" I heard a gentle voice say.
I looked up from the Growlithe that I was hugging to see a beautiful young woman with dark green hair smiling at me and I nodded. I paused as memories started to come together, a lot of it was still blurry but I recognized this woman. This is my new mom Emily Grady, her and my dad Green live together in a small house in the peaceful town of Pallet.
"I was coming to wake you for breakfast but I see Growlithe beat me to it." My mom turned towards my dresser and started pulling out clothes for me.
"We're going shopping after breakfast so let's get you ready for the day." She helped me get my clothes on and we walked down the hall to the dining room with Growlithe following close behind. I settled myself at the table while my mom put a plate in front of me eggs, bacon, and toast. I started eating while wondering, what kind of eggs were these? What pokemon did they come from? What pokemon was the bacon made of? I never thought about it while playing the game but there are no normal animals in the Pokemon world.
"Is something wrong sweetie?"
"No mom breakfast is great." I said with a smile.
We finished eating and I went to play with Growlithe in the living room while mom cleaned up the kitchen. Around ten minutes later my mom called out to me.
"Jake come put your shoes on it's time to go."
I ran over to the door and put on my shoes and tightened the velcro straps and grabbed the hand my mom held out to me. My mom looked over to Growlithe and asked.
"Growlithe are you coming with or do you want to stay home?"
And Growlithe in typical puppy fashion play pounced over and started nuzzling my hand with his head.
"I guess that means your coming." She said while chuckling.
We started walking down the road and I realized, it was more a walking path than a road. It definitely was not big enough for a car to drive on, maybe two bicycles side by side if they were really close together. I guess there aren't many cars in a town this small.
It was about a mile to the market, apparently Pallet Town is to small to have a real store so it's just a small open air market. My mom had brought a basket and she started filling it with berries from one stall and veggies from another chatting with one person after another.
One woman walked over pulling a wagon with a little boy in it, he looked like he was only a year old. I recognized the woman, it was Delia Ketchum which meant the little boy must be Ash.
"Good morning Emily."
"Eh...oh. Delia good morning I didn't see you there."
"Yeah I just got here. I see Jake and Growlithe are getting along better than the last time we met." She looked over and gave me a little wave. I waved back and went back to playing with Growlithe teasing him with a piece of long grass I found.
"Yeah I went to wake him this morning and saw him hugging Growlithe. I'm glad he has finally gotten over getting bitten last month. And look at little Ash, he has gotten so big."
"Yeah he's almost one but it feels like only yesterday that we brought him home."
"The time sure goes by fast. Well I'll let you get back to shopping Delia it was good to see you."
"You as well Emily. We should get together sometime soon, we could invite Beth and her twins. Gary, Ash, Daisy, and Jake could all play together while we chat."
"That sounds good I'll see if Green is up for it this weekend." They traded a few more words and then mom, Growlithe and I started walking back home. On they walk I started looking around and asked.
"Mom what kind of Pokemon live around here?"
"Most Pokemon stay away from cities and town but we see a few different types, mostly just Pidgeys and Rattatas. Every once in a while you'll see an Ekans which is why I always have you take Growlithe with you when you play outside."
So mostly the same as the game except for the Ekans near Pallet Town but that makes sense, this is a real world. Back on Earth you could see snakes everywhere, it makes sense that Pokemon wouldn't be limited to one small area. That's something I will have to remember. Weak Pokemon are food for strong Pokemon, every ecosystem has predators and prey and in a world with Pokemon weak humans are more likely to be prey.
A little while later we got home and mom told me to go play while she put the food away.
After rough housing with Growlithe for about an hour I was feeling sleepy so I snuggled up with Growlithe and drifted off to sleep right there on the carpeted living room floor.
** Emily's POV **
The house got quiet so I decided to check on Jake. Standing in the doorway seeing him curled up with Growlithe brought a smile to my lips. About a month ago Jake was being a little to rough while playing and Growlithe nipped him on the hand. It didn't break the skin but Jake got really scared and started crying. I tried to explain to Jake that Growlithe was just trying to tell him to stop but he's been a little hesitant with Growlithe ever since so it's good to see them so close now. Although the change was so abrupt that it made me wonder if something else was going on.
"Darkrai can you come out?"
"Yes Emily what do you need?" From Emily's shadow a pokemon stuck out it's head.
"Does anything seem off about Jake to you?"
"What do you mean by 'off'?"
"I just have a funny feeling. He got over his fear of Growlithe so suddenly and on the walk home he asked a question about what pokemon live around here."
"So, aren't all little children curious?"
"That's just it, I mentioned three different pokemon that he has never seen before and he didn't ask about what they look like and when I mentioned them he got a look on his face like he was thinking really hard about something. It wasn't a look you would normally see on a three year olds face."
"And what do you expect me to do?"
"You can see into people's dreams right? Can you see what he is dreaming about right now?"
"Are you sure you want me to do that? When I interact with dream whether I want them to or not they become nightmares."
"I'm not sure. I'm right here so if he has a nightmare I can comfort him and calm him down."
"If your sure I'll take a look." And with that Darkrai fully emerged from Emily's shadow and sank into Jake's, as he did a slight shudder went up Jake's body.
** Jake's POV **
I found myself standing in a completely white space, no walls, no ceiling, no floor just white all around.
"Now this is unexpected." A voice I had never heard before said from behind me. I turned to see a figure floating there...a figure I recognized from the 4th generation pokemon games.
"Darkrai." A look of stunned suprise came over the figures face.
"How do you know what I am boy?"
"I know a lot more than you might think, but as you are the one intruding here how about we get to that later. What are you doing in my head?"
"Fair enough, but we will talk about it. Your mother said you were acting differently than you normally would so she asked me to look into your dreams and see if there was anything unusual in them. I would say this qualifies."
"You could say that. How was I acting differently and why are you with my mom, aren't most humans afraid of you?"
"I am with your mother because in all the years I have been alive she is the only human who was not scared of me at first sight. You would be the second. And for some reason that I still do not understand my natural ability that causes nightmares in the surrounding humans is suppressed in her presence. And as for how you were acting differently yesterday you were afraid of Growlithe and today you were completely fine with him and apparently you were not curious enough about pokemon on your walk home."
"I see. Does my dad know about you?"
"No. I asked Emily not to mention my presence to anyone else. I would not have shown myself to you either but your dreamscape is unique. I have never seen anything like this.....completely empty, showing nothing."
"Well this is my first time seeing it as well but I might know a bit about what's going on. I can tell you but I don't want you to tell my mom."
"I don't have to tell her anything. I do not belong to her. I stay because her presence is soothing but I can leave at any time. She will be curious about what I saw in your dreams any ideas about what I should tell her?"
"Hmmm...Tell her I was having a nightmare and when I woke up the first thing I saw was Growlithe there watching over me and I realized I didn't have any real reason to be afraid of him."
"That should work. So tell me why your dreamscape is so empty."
"We have a deal. My best guess is because I have memories of another life."
I waved my hand and with a thought my dreamscape was now a busy city street in downtown New York. Darkrai looked around in amazement at the huge skyscrapers and streets filled with bumper to bumper traffic. He turned to me and was surprised once again because I was no loner a three year old little boy, I was in my original body, thirty years old, six feet tall, slightly chubby average and forgettable, absolutely nothing like the cute little boy he was expecting.
"I woke up this morning with 30 years worth of memories from another life even now I'm still trying to wrap my head around it."
With another wave of my hand and a thought I was back in my three year old body and everything faded to white again.
"That was a lot more than I was expecting but your control of your dreamscape is even more impressive."
"Why? The brain is just another part of the body if you know how it works you can control it."
"That's easier said than done you must have a natural talent for it, but I shouldn't linger to long your mother is probably getting anxious. We will speak again soon I have a lot of questions for you."
"Sounds good Darkrai, I'll talk to you later." Our goodbyes said he faded from my dreamscape and my conscious mind faded out as well.
** Emily's POV **
I'm starting to get worried. Darkrai has been looking into my little boys dream for over twenty minutes but he hasn't moved so much as a twitch. As I continue to sit there beside my son Darkrai finally came out of his shadow.
"Is everything ok? You were watching him for a long time."
"Yes everything is fine. I took so long because your son is like you, my natural ability doesn't seem to affect him. Even when I actively tried to influence his dream it did nothing, truly amazing."
"Wait a second. You TRIED to make my son have a nightmare!" Emily was outraged when she heard that.
"Calm down, he's fine isn't he? Besides I think I know why he got over his fear of Growlithe so abruptly."
Still upset about what Darkrai tried to do she glared at him while asking.
"What did you find out?"
"There were bits and pieces of a nightmare in his dream. I didn't cause them." He quickly added seeing Emily's glare intensify.
"From the pieces I could see he woke up scared and saw Growlithe there watching over him and realized that he had nothing to fear from him. He fell back asleep hugging Growlithe. That's the most I can tell you."
"That's more than enough, thank you Darkrai."
"You are welcome Emily. Besides I now have one more reason to stay here a bit longer. You and your son both have an ability that fascinates me." With that parting remark he drifted back into Emily's shadow.