The first few months of Gladion's new life as a baby in the Pokemon world were...chaotic to say the least. Having the mind of a deceased teenager trapped in a tiny, helpless infant body was a disconcerting experience.
He was completely reliant on his new parents, Erza and Ben, for every single need. That included pooping, peeing feeding on breasts or rather breast as the other was usually occupied by his twin sister who was always too hungry.
Thankfully, they seemed like loving, doting parents, even if Gladion still felt awkward being fawned over and having his diaper changed. And if that was not enough, His diaper was usually changed by a very happy Chansey who always pulls his cheeks or a Mr.Mime who used his psychic powers to change his diapers.
He had guessed that they were his father's Pokemons since he was usually the one who gave them the tasks to do something.
At least he didn't have any good memories of his previous family, so he didn't feel too attached to his old life.
Though he did miss things like being able to walk, use the bathroom unassisted, and communicate properly.
At least to his consolation, he was not alone in this weird situation, Gladion thought, glancing over at his twin sister Gwenyth.
She seemed to be a perfectly normal human baby, without any hint of being a reincarnated person like himself. Though she certainly made up for her lack of awareness by being a master at one particular baby skill - incessant, ear-piercing crying.
"Waaaahhhh! Waaaaaaahhhhh!" Gwenyth's tiny lungs would engage in screaming fits at every opportunity - when she was hungry, tired, bored, or just because. Her deafening tantrums never failed to aggravate Gladion's nerves and rouse his newly developed headaches.
"Goo gah bah!" he'd reprimand her sternly from his crib, as if his baby talk could somehow get through to her. Of course, Gwenyth would just reply with another wall of wails.
Their frazzled parents were constantly doting over Gwenyth, trying in vain to discern what she wanted and placate her.
Their mother looked perpetually exhausted, dark circles under her eyes as she rocked and shushed the squalling infant for hours on end.
Poor Ben resorted to using extreme measures like making outrageous faces or bringing out squeaky Pokemon stuffed toys, anything to make Gwenyth crack a smile.
Gladion found amusement and comfort in quietly observing the daily goings-on around.
Gladion had not seen many Pokemon yet since from what he could tell, human babies are too delicate and the Pokemon in their affection could crush them literally.
Still catching glimpses of the Pokemon made his heart race with excitement and bewilderment. It was still so surreal that these creatures from a game and an anime in his first life were real, living, breathing entities.
The only Pokemon that he has seen right now was a Mr. Mime, Chansey, a Houndoom and an Arcanine. The first two were his Dad's Pokemons and seemed responsible enough to take care of him and his sister. The latter two were his mom's Pokemons and patrolled their home and even played with the twins a little.
Part of him was still nervous about potentially encountering dangerous Pokemon, but he tried to suppress those fears. Babies didn't have to worry about such things...right?
As the months went on, Gladion not only grew accustomed to his strange new reality, but began eagerly anticipating each new day. When would he finally get to go outside? Attempt those first wobbly steps? Say his first words in the human tongue? Whenwould he get his first Pokemon? He may be stuck in a baby body, but he was determined to develop at an accelerated rate.
Poor Gladion thought being a teenager was tough, but being a baby again took the cake for most frustrating experience of his lives - plural.
His mind was that of a sarcastic, at times grouchy older teen, but he was stuck in an entirely helpless infant body. He constantly had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous baby talk everyone cooed at him.
"Who's a sweet liddle puddin' pie? You are, yes you are!" Erza would squeal in a saccharine tone, smushing Gladion's chubby cheeks together. If he could properly communicate, he'd snark back, "I'm not a puddin' pie, I'm a reincarnated soul trapped in a babyfied hell!"
Instead, all that came out was an exasperated, "Beh...bah bah!" Which of course made his mom and dad erupt in cheerful laughter.
"Oooh, he's such a little grouch today! Yes he is, yes he is!" Erza would crow delightedly, playing with Gladion's pudgy feet and sending him into a FIGHT or FLIGHT, though his body could do neither.
Then there was the endless parade of mortifying scenarios - from getting his diaper changed while loud farts and growls erupted from his tiny tush, to having a rug randomly get pulled during tummy time and going face-first into a pile of Mr. Mime's drool, which the Pokemon used as a cleaning solution. Glamorous, reincarnated life was not.
Mealtimes proved especially flustering for the teen-minded tot. Turns out babies, apart from breastfeed milk are also fed other things in this world.
Erza or Mr. Mime would pure up revolting mashes like Poltoed, or crushed Nanab berries mixed into a sloppy brown protein sludge. It looked like shit and tasted worse than shit not that Gladion ever tasted shit.
"Here comes the Dodrio plane!" Erza would bellow, making agonizing choking noises as she brought the weird slop towards Gladion's clenched mouth. He'd recoil in revulsion while Gwenyth beside him always eagerly gobbled it up, her face becoming an unholy mess.
"Come on honey, don't be difficult! Open wide, you'll get to be a big strong Pokemon trainer one day if you eat up!" Erza insisted, Her patience quickly running thin when Gladion refused to cooperate.
In his head, Gladion shouted back, "I don't want to be a trainer, I want to go back to being an angsty punk teen and playing Diablo 7 all day instead of this indignity!"
But of course, even his most petulant cries like "Nah bah bah bah!" only seemed to amuse his parents, who thought he was just a fussy little monster like his vocal sister.
Mr. Mime would ultimately have to use its psychic powers to force Gladion's mouth open, cramming in the gelatinous glop to Gladion's mouth.
Gwenyth offered no solidarity either, she seemed utterly content being a squawking little piglet who pooped, screamed, and mashed her food into her hair gleefully.
If not for the constant reminders he lived in the actual Pokemon world now, Gladion would assume this was a longform fever dream designed to maximize a cynical teenager's dismay.
Some days he hoped to wake up in his past life, sticky game controller in hand and pizzas surrounding him. But eventually he accepted the reality that he, a reborn young man, was doomed to spiral through infancy all over again.
Though he had to admit, when Gwenyth accomplished hilariously embarrassing baby feats, it did provide Gladion some darkly comedic relief. Like the time she filled her diaper so prodigiously, the mushy brown sludge oozed out and streamed down both her doughy legs, making an Onix imprint on the floor.
Watching the clean-up effort in horror as Mr. Mime frantically tried containing the spill almost made Gladion want to invest in adult diapers for when he grew up again.
Or when Gwenyth went through a hair-pulling phase, forcibly yanking out significant tufts of Ben's luscious locks until they both sported appealing mange wigs.
Gramps would just bellow with laughter, slapping his knee as Gladion couldn't resist cracking a tiny smirk too at his sister's relentless past time of Mukkingham Palace makeovers. [A/N: Get it Muk?]
Gladion's Gramps was a mystery man to Gladion, Ben's grizzled father was apparently a war veteran in his youth.
He'd cackle uproariously at Gwenyth's screaming fits, having seemingly gone half-deaf from battling alongside his Pokemon for decades.
"Reminds me of the trenches back in the Kanto-Johto war! You two could wake the dead with those mighty lungs!" he'd guffaw, smooshing his weathered face up to Gladion's and thoroughly flustering the reincarnated boy.
"Don't you worry kid, you're gonna grow up to be as much of a fighter as me with ol' Gramps toughening you up!" Gladion wanted to know more about this war but he could only make baby noises. But this confirmed the notion to Gladion that this world was not as good as depicted in the anime.
Yes, the life of a reincarnated individual regressed into babyhood certainly provided Gladion no shortage of reasons to maintain a perpetual facepalm and want to wake up already. But he had to admit, surviving these indignities toughened his mental fortitude...while providing small glimmers of amusement from Gwenyth's antics.