May's Workshop Stories

Harsh Reality

Content warning?: If you don't like ridiculous little stories than you better skip this one because it's on the ridiculous side.

Once when I was a child, my father told me a story about a ghost who accidentally entered a different body every day and didn't know what to do about it. No matter what he tried, nothing could stop the process. I thought it was a fun little story; full of adventures and funny moments.

Until something similar happened to me.

That night I went to bed as usual. There were no signs that the next day would be any different than what I was used to. And yet things couldn't have been more unlike anything I had experienced.

The first thing I noticed was an odd sensation that there was less of me than I was used to, so much less that I felt immediately petrified. Had I been cut in half during the night? How was I alive?

However, I didn't feel any pain, so I assumed I was still trapped in a vivid nightmare. After all, what else could a regular person who hasn't had anything special happen to them think?

But when my tail started twitching, I realized everything felt way too real to be a dream. Not to mention that I suddenly had a tail to speak of.

What was even stranger was that it didn't feel like your run-of-the-mill tail that could swish back and forth, but a rigid one that felt more like an accordion than anything else. Besides that, I noticed that my ears also seemed long and erect.

It was ridiculous, but somehow, I was sure it was not a dream, nor a nightmare. It felt like it was my new strange and twisted reality.

Shocked into action, I jumped to my feet only to notice how tiny I was compared to my regular human size. It was so eerie that I started shaking all over.

I didn't expect that to be followed by what felt like sparks of electricity. It was as if my body was a conductor. It was buzzing all over.

"Pika pika?" I exclaimed in shock.

However, what came out of my mouth was worse than the words I thought of. I immediately put the pieces together and knew what I was.

Being a ghost possessing human bodies would have been so much more convenient and less weird.

No such luck. I, the best football player on my team, was now a tiny Pikachu. Incapable of coherent human speech, limited to a few sounds that the rare few could understand.

Looking around, I noticed for the first time that I wasn't alone. All around me were children of different ages whose sleep my sudden awakening had disturbed. They looked worn out and terrified under the dim light of a candle that was only strong enough for me to barely see them and the tent we were under.

"Have they found us?" A girl with huge blue eyes whispered in fear.

"Pika. Pika pika pika," I said.

To my surprise, she understood that I was trying to say no and that I just had a nightmare.

"Oh, I have many of those too. Ever since the war started," the girl said, her eyes slowly filling with tears. "Thank you, Pikachu."

"Pika pika?" I asked, trying to better understand the situation.

"For doing your best to save us," she said with surprising gentleness. "For being our friend."

As she said that, she went back to sleep, too tired for long conversations, leaving me to wonder what I was supposed to do. I couldn't abandon these children even though I was no longer their Pikachu. But I also had no idea what was happening or what I was supposed to do.

There were three options as far as I could see. I might be having a nightmare, I might be in Purgatory, or it could be an alternate universe. A universe in which the pokemon exist and fight for justice in a war-ridden world. Either way, I had two choices unfolding before me. I could leave the children to their fate and try to find my way back home, or I could help them and hope for the best.

Looking at those innocent faces in peaceful slumber, I stomped out of the tent, angry with myself. Protecting the children was bound to be a dangerous task. No matter how strong Pikachu was, there were still limits.

I could die.

Yet, I knew from the moment I saw the trust in the little girl's eyes that there was ultimately only one thing left for me to do.

Protect them. Figure out a way to save them.

Patrolling the area, trying to figure out where the real Pikachu was taking them, I found that if I looked carefully enough, I could see his memories. He wasn't a presence in my mind; his memories were like leafing through a picture book.

Maybe it would have been better if his essence was still there with me, but even these imprints were enough to tell me his plan, the plan that I was now obliged to follow.

Because let's be honest, it was a good plan. Taking the children to a neutral area that no one was interested in and enlisting the help of other pokemon to make it livable while the adults fought their senseless war. However, we still had a way to go until we reached the barren territory.

A sudden crack of a branch had me stopping in my tracks.

They found us.

The regular humans might not have been dangerous, but these were turned by the war. They were bloodthirsty monsters.

"Pika!" I yelled a loud warning for the children, who immediately followed the protocol and huddled together.

The other guards and I sprang into action.

"Pika, pika...chuuuu!" I yelled out, releasing a bolt of energy similar to the ones I've seen in the anime but also quite different.

It didn't take a lot for me and the other three pokemon to subdue the small division of the human military and be on our way to safety. After all, they were just savages, but I knew we still had a long way to go.

However, while I was still Pikachu, I might as well do some good in the world.

Let the adventures begin!