Chapter Text
Where... am I?
I try to move, but I feel like I'm... being crushed? I can only see light, and... veins!?
NO, no, no!
I have no clue what is going on!
I panic, struggling, trying my best to get away from those freaky things and free my body.
CRACK!
It's breaking! I need out NOW!
With a huge heave I desperately push my body. The sound of the cracking going through my bones.
LIGHT!
I push more against it lengthening it with my flailing body.
I'm free!
... I'm cold. And covered with thick goop. I try to wipe it away but something isn't right.
Something is wrong with my body.
I have something big and blue sticking out of my face! I try to reach up and remove it but my arms don't listen... in fact I can't feel my fingers!
Panicked even more I look down, and my neck moves a hell of a lot more than I expected, it's like I have more vertebrae than normal!
I look at the limbs before me... try bending my arms, the limbs follow bending close to my chest... my bright white chest. I wiggle my fingers and the entire limb in front of me undulates like a kind of thick hand. I think they're flippers and they're definitely connected to ME! They're a light blue, the same color as the thing in my field of vision.
No! Don't tell me that's a muzzle or something!?
I try feeling around with my tongue and I do have teeth, but they're completely shaped differently! Conical, and thinner than my old ones... The front of my mouth doesn't have proper teeth either, it's more like a... Beak.
I quickly turn my head towards my hindquarters, and see that I have a shell... Am I a freaking sea turtle!?
No Wait! My shell has weird hornish growths on it... also my body seems much further away than it should be if I was a turtle... can turtles even look at their own backs!?
Am I a mutant sea turtle!? I mean I have teeth, so already something weird was going on, but my carapace isn't connected to my plastron!?... Do I even HAVE a plastron?
I squirm a bit, leaning to the side, and I confirm that no, I do not have a plastron at all.
My hind legs are smaller than my front... but not small enough for the steering a sea turtle uses theirs for.
I realize that I have a VERY long neck, considering I can actually see my own tail without moving my body around... It's a pretty small tail so I'm probably a female... whatever I am!...Actually... This body plan looks familiar.
...
No, Don't tell me?!
Lapras? I'm a Lapras?!
I look around, trying to see if I have any siblings. I mean, Lapras are like a combo of a sea turtle and a plesiosaur, so I should have at least one or eggshells from other siblings nearby.
...
Ok, It is HARD to move!
I have to do a kinda... pushup motion which lifts my plastron-less belly up, walk my new huge flipper back feet forward a bit, bend the tiny legs I now have back there to lift myself up some more, then extend my arms and flipper hands forward as far as I can, and repeat.
It is EXHAUSTING and the sand hurts my new skin. Am I doing this wrong!? Ah, who cares about inefficient movement! I need to see if I have any parents or siblings!
I turn my awkward body around and see the very egg that I was just in... It's large and white, without the iconic spots or a strange color like the ones from the anime... How did I become like this? The last thing I remember was sleeping at home! I'm not old! I shouldn't have died in my sleep... Maybe this is a dream? I hope so!
STOP GETTING DISTRACTED! Ugh! I shake my head, shooing the intrusive thoughts away.
I look around and... no, it's just my egg. No others, no cracked shells around in the sand. I don't see any big Loch Ness looking beasties either... how big am I? The egg is huge but do I have anything for scale? I try looking around, I do see some birds!... Very big birds... Those aren't Wingull... those look like normal seagulls... Giant, hungry, normal seagulls... FLEE! To the water!!
I dash across the sands like a huge bird is ready to eat me, because they are!
Stupid weird shaped body! MOVE!
The sands rub my skin even more, causing small sores I can feel across my stomach, but I don't have time to think about that, the birds are coming!
I reach the actually wet sands and everything gets much easier, which is great, because I'm being pecked at!
NO! I'm not bird food! You're not getting this not-turtle!
I reach the newly wetted part of the sands and everything starts to finally flow properly! I speed up, barely dodging snapping beaks as I fling myself in the waves that are coming in.
My body can actually MOVE now, everything is so much better, if strange. I have to kinda cup my hands and bring them back to towards my elbows? Then I rotate my shoulders, elbows, and wrists in concert, making kinda a breast stroke? I kinda copy how it feels with my back legs and my newly extra flexible huge feet. It's weird, but once I get the timing down, it's so much easier than moving on the sands was. I flee into the deeper water, and thankfully the birds seem to have backed off.
It's beautiful!
... but I do not recognize any of these fish... Am I somewhere in the real world... no, I'm sure I could identify at least one type of familiar fish from most oceans! They don't look like normal fish as well... Their shapes are a bit weird... maybe I'm in a future place in the games? Like the Wind and Waves place?
...
I'm getting hungry...
I guess I'll try catching some fish, but I'm not a big fish person... I actually hate most fish because my grandpa used to force me to take cod liver oil when I was a kid, he swore that it'd fix my childhood medical issues... ugh.
I shudder shaking my head... it's actually a bit hard to swim with my neck in this position under the water. Not very hydrodynamic... how can a normal Lapras catch any food? As I lean my head forward I feel something inside me just change. I move a muscle as my neck bends forward and suddenly a kinda... latch disengages? I start experimenting with this feeling and the new muscles that I never had before.
It's fascinating, there's something in my neck that allows me to hold my body in a much more streamlined position. Huh... an internal compliant mechanism? A bi-stable switch? Adaptation for underwater swimming?
Neat.
I head downwards towards a school of smaller fish.... those are fish all right... they're pretty small, and it seems they don't mind my head coming into the school? Do they not see that I'm a much bigger- OH! It's how plesiosaurs could fish!
I don't wanna eat the fish, but the hunger won't fix itself. I decide to do it quickly. I flick my neck and head sideways, trying to grab one before they all startle away.
I did it!... now I have a fish in my mouth... Oh god it's squirming! OH no my teeth pierced it, and my mouth is filling with its blood! Egh! Its fins are starting to scratch my tongue and it feels strong enough to escape! Swallow! Swallow like your life depends on it! BECAUSE IT DOES!
I resurface, struggling with the huge fish in my mouth... technically it's a tiny fish, but it's huge once in my mouth; which is about the same size as it! I flip the muscle in my neck and raise my head up to the 'normal' orientation, twisting the fish in my mouth by biting and letting go quickly in a pattern, filling my mouth even more with the taste of its blood. Once it's turned what feels like headfirst I swallow down the fish. I can feel it wiggling down my throat.
Uugughhhh! So gross!... Maybe it'd be better if I kill it first? But then I'd have to probably taste even more of their blood and probably weird other fluids like... UGGGGHHHHHH! Maybe I can eat other things like plants? My teeth say carnivore though... but I do have a beak, maybe I can use it to at least try eating plants?
I kind of relax now on the surface of the waves, digesting my first meal... now that I'm a bit further from the land maybe I can swim around this place? I'm sure I'll be able to at least see signs of human habitation.
I circle the beach, feeling a bit more energized now that my stomach is full and the sun is out... it feels nice. Kinda scary with how small I am, though. I keep following the coast, the beach ends pretty quickly, but there's cliffs that I can follow. I do and see that above me there are lots and lots of trees, some palm trees, but most look like normal forest trees? I don't see any real heavy moss like a temperate rainforest would have. No wait, I think I see some jungle-ish ferns and stuff... I'd probably have to actually go into the forest to get a better idea of it... not looking forward to that!
OH! Another island on my right! And this one is clearly an island! It's much smaller than this one I've been following. And what the? The large island has a... Weird Mountain cliff? It's like a mesa? Or a butte? What is that doing there?!
Highly confused, I keep following the coast, finding another of the butte/mesa/whichevers! But there's another island at the very least? Oh! a third island, but this one is even smaller than the last two.
I continue, finding another small bay, but one that doesn't seem to have any easily accessible beaches, and as I continue I see one last Island and the smallest mesa/butte/things so far.
I start to tire, but I see my original starting location! And now that I'm paying attention, the biggest mesa/butte/thing is further inland.
Ok, so a small archipelago, ugh... I need somewhere to rest... also. There is something important I should check. I THINK I'm a reptile, but I might be like a fish and I could maybe breathe underwater? Ok. You can do this, just open your mouth underwater if it feels bad you can lift your head up and be ok, you're ok.
I find a place near the beach, but a secluded little inlet that has a small wave break, I should be safe here from the birds and any fish that might want to get me when I'm vulnerable... maybe.
I lower my head into the water and just try the whole water breathing thing. NO NONO! I immediately shoot my head up sputtering; my body tearing up, oh nice to see that crying is on the table, clearing my airways of the water that was inhaled on purpose like an idiot.
No, You're not an idiot, You HAD to check!... Speaking of spitting up water, might as well try that as well.
This time; as I feel like a fool and open my mouth, trying to see if I can shoot water on purpose, and not from my lungs; I actually feel another muscle on the inside of my throat contract and suddenly a stream of water shoots out...
Holy shit I can do a Water Gun. In joy I wave my flippers and actually make a musical cry... why didn't I try talking before? Ugh! I shake my head and try speaking.
It's hauntingly beautiful, but it's definitely not language, and not something stupid like 'la pra la.' It's more like birdsong mixed with a whale-call. I don't think I can speak English anymore if I tried. Just to make sure I try and change the kinda 'a' sound I'm doing to more of an 'o' sound... It kinda works? Maybe? I'm making the 'o' shape more with my tongue than anything, thanks to my beak. I try smiling and frowning, and I do feel my mouth move at the creases of it, so I can express my joy and displeasure at the very least.
I try to make an 'ee' sound and that works well, so "a" and "ee" and a scuffed 'o'. I have such a way with words! Sarcasm thy name is-Holy shit what the fuck!?
What is my name!?
My brain spins, I remember my mother's name, my father's name, my sisters' names, hell I can remember my DOG's name, but not MINE!?
This speaks of shenanigans! I mean being in a Pokémon's body is one thing, but memory tampering?! Ok. Ok, ok, ok, ok. Just. Breathe.
I take in a breath, doing the square breathing I was taught in therapy. Counting in and out, while listening to what I can hear.... which now that I think about it what I hear is pretty weird!? I look up and see... animals? These are not normal animals, but they're most definitely NOT Pokémon. The animals on the shore look like... well, badly mixed normal animals?! That looks like a domesticated pig with a lion's mane? And over there! That's a weird looking dog thing with a chicken's comb and wattle... wait that one is familiar? Kinda?
What was it? It's on the tip of my tongue... AH! The Island of Rare Animals! That one weird episode and chapter in One Piece! It had that one guy... Uh... what was his name... OH! I remember it was a play on Simon and Garfunkel, Gaimon!
....
NO.
Ok, ok, stay calm! It doesn't have to be the Island of Rare Animals! It could be just... A coincidence!... Ugh, I don't even believe that!
I start crying, tearing up, which is very welcome at the moment because if I couldn't even cry things would be even worse.
Let's look on the bright side, you're a Pokémon, and you confirmed that you can use Moves, so you're not as helpless as you would be if you were yourself... But being shoved into an egg to be a baby again?! Without my name? What kind of Amazing Digital Circus thing is this?!
NO! The BRIGHT side not the bad stuff! You're in the East Blue, that's the 'weakest' of the 'seas' the safest one technically... Maybe?
Ok! That's a kinda good thing... but I'm a freaking AQUATIC ANIMAL BABY, and the freaking OCEAN is full of the strongest beings!
.... I'm never going home am I? I start wailing. Just plain out ugly crying.
"Oh? What's this?"
The voice startles me out of my crying, I look up to see a 'bush' waddle up towards me. Wow, his afro really looks like shrubbery... wait, it's full of some plants and sticks, no wonder he looks so unkempt. His treasure chest covered body looks pretty strange, I can see his knees from the top, and his wrists and hands holding onto the top of the ornate chest. His knees are pretty thin, and from what I can see of his body it's naked from his clothes disintegrating. He looks like he's constantly in pain.
"A baby... Seal-Turtle? Hm, no that's not right. Ah, it doesn't matter what you are, you'll be fine. No more crying." He leans forward, petting the side of my head with what little reach he has with himself trapped.
It feels nice. His hands have callouses but he's being very gentle. I use his hand to wipe away my tears.
"There we go! Do you not have a mama? Don't worry, you won't be alone, just like I'm not alone with my friends." Saying this some of the animals come in, the Dog-Chicken comes licking my face, and the Pig-Lion licks Gaimon's face as well.
I smile a bit, and I sing in happiness.
"Yeah... that... sounds.... Zzz." Oh!... I guess I know Sing, I look around at the now sleeping animals around me. I am pretty tired.
I gather together some plants, making a makeshift nest, being careful for my hurt.... wait? What? I lift up myself and crane my head down to see my stomach, which had some sand burn earlier... there isn't any? Ok, so I have the ability Water Absorb or Hydration. I'll think about this later. I shake my head and nestle in close to Gaimon and his friends. No one on this island would dare to hurt one of Gaimon's Friends, right? I snuggle closely to him and as soon as I start to relax my body just drifts... off... to... sleep...