The door slowly creaked open, which caught my attention immediately. With a multitude of stationary items still floating in the air, I still didn't know exactly how to stop my control over them. It's not like I wanted to hide my skills, but it was surely troublesome to explain.
I was still half-sitting on the bed, sheets tangled around my legs. My heart beat was only just starting to slowly recover from the pain.
Something stepped inside.
*Clack*
A wooden-looking leg with wooden clogs fused into its feet entered my sight. With the rest of the thing entering the room, I looked at it with a confused face.
'What the hell is even that?' I thought for a second, just before my mind immediately found the answer.
A relatively dwarfed heighted Pokemon, with yellow and black eyes, scanned the room before staring back at me with a serious expression. A shaggy white mane covers most of its face and trails down its back. Long brown pointed ears poke out of the top of its mane, and leaves for hands.
'It's a Shiftry.' My breath paused.
Knowing and seeing were not the same thing. The Shiftry in front of me seemed to be made out of some maple wood with a shine on it. This ridiculous position honestly went over my head, as I scanned the Pokémon with my eyes.
Its gaze flicked from the floating mess to me.
Slowly, the Shiftry came closer, which didn't alert me.
'Oh, wait, this Shiftry is my father's Pokémon. Wait, my father has quite the nice team.' I thought, my mind wandering a little bit as the unravelling of my memories gave me more information to go off of. 'My father, as a forest ranger, was a mono-grass type trainer; he had a Tropius-'
My thoughts were cut short, as my sixth sense was suddenly restricted. I instinctively grabbed my head for the third damn time todayand shuffled backwards on the bed, spine hitting the wall. My breathing spiked, and my eyes, in a panic, wandered back to the Pokémon in the room.
The world felt… smaller. Claustrophobic. Like someone had shoved cotton into my skull and tightened a vice around my thoughts. My head felt jammed, heavy; it was a horrible feeling.
"No-" I gasped, more breath than sound.
The Shiftry froze.
Her eyes widened just a fraction. She took a step back, leaf-fans lowering slightly, posture shifting from alert to concerned. I could see the concerned expression on my father's starter as it backed up, which fixed the problem.
The pressure lifted. Like a switch flipping back on.
"What…?" I muttered.
My gaze snapped back to the Shiftry.
She hadn't moved closer again, but I could oddly see how she was feeling right now. It was like a cat, with how surprisingly expressive they could be.
It didn't take long before I connected the dots.
Dark type.
I'm a Psychic.
"Oh," I said out loud. "You blocked it because I'm sort of a psychic now."
She was my father's Pokémon and "I've" known her since I was a kid, there was no way she wanted to harm me in anyway. Shiftry, who heard my words, widened its eyes, understanding my words and soon after she came back.
This time, my mind wasn't clouded by being next to her as she gently patted my head.
"Shift shiftry (Are you okay)?"
There was a sort of familiarity with the Pokémon
She tilted her head slightly, leaf-fans rustling.
"I'm… okay," I said, more for myself than for her. "I'm okay."
Her posture eased by degrees.
As the tension faded, more memories filtered in. The other Kenji's memories. The version of me who grew up here. Who never wanted to be a trainer. Who liked singing and music more than battling?
Basically, younger me before I decided to go to the gym, be more social and play sports to make friends.
I remembered sitting in "my" room, fingers clumsy over keys, while Tropius stuck its head through the open window, humming along in its deep, gentle way. Although the education part did sort of miss me.
'Ah shit.' I thought not remembering much about the schooling here. Which, in all fairness, wasn't too weird as I couldn't name you anything besides physics and method maths that frustrated me from my high-school.
Much less my primary school education.
Didn't help that the "Kenji" from the Pokémon world didn't seem interested in becoming a trainer. 'Although I didn't mind going through my coming of age, which was to travel.' I thought with some more information coming to my head.
I was in the Galar region with a minor and major division; honestly, I knew more about it from the games than from memory. So it was best to ask or look it up on the laptop.
I decided to take my time thinking to myself as Shiftry just stood beside me a little awkwardly.
The normal age to become a Pokémon trainer was fifteen, and my birthday was soon coming up, which was a pretty cool coincidence.
I met Shiftry's eyes again.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I didn't mean to freak out."
She studied me for a long moment.
Then she took a careful step forward.
"Shift Shiftry Shift (As long as you're okay)!"
The sense of familiarity deepened as she soon after stretched her arms out as if Shiftry wanted a hug. I hesitated for a few seconds before getting out of my bed and, for the first time, interacting with a real life Pokemon.
She crouched slightly to meet me halfway, wooden limbs moving with some quiet clacks from her wooden feet being heard.
She was really solid like wood, that's for sure...
Shiftry rested one fan-like hand lightly against my back, slowly patting it as if to reassure me. Feeling her solid wooden body, though it felt a bit awkward to hug for too long. Although her white man did feel a little fluffy, but sort of prickly.
I exhaled slowly, letting myself lean into it.
"Koutei~! Breakfast's ready!"
My mum's voice floated up the hallway, warm and casual, like this was just another normal morning. Hearing the nickname she gave to me, I had to hold in my tears with every inch of willpower I had.
I had a weird obsession with Julius Caesar, and my mother gave me the nickname of "Emperor". Was it a bit weird? Maybe, but my friends also started to pick it up after hearing my mother say it.
At this point, can I really deny it?
"Uh," I short-circuited, realising that Shiftry was still with me. "We should… go?"
My words seemed more like a question. Fuck I was really turning into an awkward chap at this rate. But still, there's a real life Pokemon in front of me!
Shiftry gave a small nod and fell into step beside me as I left the room. My memories of the house started to unwind as I naturally could figure my way through the hallways, slowly but steady.
I did take a bit too much time as I was still processing on how I would converse with my parents. By the time we reached the table, my nerves were shot. Dad, who was sitting at the table, wore his orange ranger outfit
[Image]
He looked engrossed by the TV but easily noticed me arrive.
"Koutei, your mother is in the kitchen, go help her bring the food," his words causing me to stop, but in the end nod as I've done this before. Anything to delay having to speak to him... Seeing the sort of spacious dining area with six seats, there was a kitchen across from it. "Didn't expect to see you with Shiftry."
He adds at the end more in curiosity. Shiftry tilted her head slightly, leaf-fans rustling. My silence just made his stares more apparent as my head overcomplicated the entire interaction.
I love myself...
Mum was still in the kitchen, moving around with a pot, humming softly to herself. The smell hit me all at once. Meat, potatoes, herbs with some rice. Taking some cloth off to the side, I transfer the rice to the table soon after.
I sat down, Shiftry moving off the side and exiting the house towards the backyard.
My heart was pounding again, but not like before. This was a different kind of anxiety.
It was just me and my father on the table.
"H-Hey dad, I wanted to tell you something." I sort of mutter, which makes him squint his eyes as if it would make him hear better.
"What is it, champ?"
"I want to become a Pokémon trainer dad." My words cause his brain to short-circuit. Mum, who was still in the kitchen, was able to hear my words and was also similarly shocked, looking to my right, she had a hand covering her mouth.
"My baby!" My mother squealed after putting the pot of food on the table, and soon after went over to hug me. "Your father has been waiting for you to say those words for a long time."
Feeling her hug, it tipped over my current feelings. I couldn't hold in my tears, which at first threatened to release, did flow as she hugged me even more tightly. 'I feel so pathetic, but this really isn't a great situation to hold in any tears in the first place.'
"What happened, aw are you scared to leave your mother..." She lightly teases me, pulling me more into her embrace while Dad is still watching on from the side.
"Wait, what. Kenji, don't listen to your mother, the wild isn't that scary!" He hurriedly says, which makes her giggle. As they talk the utensils and a few scattered balls started to float up, which only my dad could see.
My distress at the situation was showing.
"The fawk?" His eyes widen at the floating fork in front of his face, next to him, a Ludicolo who somehow got there was staring at the fork like a dumbass, making the same expression. His exaggerated flapping lips didn't help.
'When the fuck did this guy appear next to dad? Why does he look so stupid?'
Seeing his reaction and the addition of Ludicolo, I was trying my best hold in my laugh mid-cry but a wide smile was stuck to my face. With dad's experience as a trainer, he soon realised what was going on.
"That's my son right there! Haha!" The laughter in his voice was pure and unfiltered. "Also being a psychic, I must be the luckiest guy alive! I've got to tell my mate Chad."
Mum recovered a second later, setting the floating utensils down a little carefully. "Koutei… are you sure?" Not doubtful. Just surprised. "You always sai-."
"Champ! Don't worry about any of that, let's get you a Pokémon!" Dad interrupts Mum, who just made her sigh in exasperation. But either was it was probably the best outcome that could happen.
For someone like me who likes to plan out what they want to say and have some answers already thought of, this was quite the mess.
The smile of doom and despair was on his face. It looked permanently plastered on his face with pride radiating off him in a way that made me inwardly chuckle. This sounded bad, but I've never seen so much emotion come from him in this sort of way. "You have my full support, alright? Just give this trainer thing a try at least."
Mum nodded slowly. "We both support you. Always."
There was so much more I wanted to say. About my head. About the panic. About the way the world felt different now. About being psychic. But that detail seemed to be glossed over as dad started to ask questions, completely forgetting about the food.
Taking a seat, Dad leaned forward slightly, interest sparking in his eyes.
"So," he said, "have you thought about what starter you'd want?"
There it was. From what I can remember, you can receive a starter Pokémon from a professor, parent, or bought. Using my memory, Marnie herself got her started at a young age, caught in the wild by Pier's and gifted to her.
So there were a multitude of options.
Maybe he would give me a Seedot? Tropius?
A part of me was relieved by the topic, but was frustrated at how lost I felt in the conversation. I leaned back in my chair, exhaling slowly. "What were the options again? I haven't really thought about it much."
Images flashed through my mind of the Galar starters. Grookey. Scorbunny. Sobble.
Father who was thinking to himself, was rubbing his chin in thought. Truly the signature pose for a thinker.
"Well, we have a few options here, champ... The psychic gym wouldn't deny an apprentice due to ya know, psychics being relatively rare. I can get you a partner Pokémon. My own Pokémon can give you an egg, or if you really want, a wild Pokémon isn't out of the question."