Chapter Text
A headache greets me as I come back to awareness, and even the idea of opening my eyes makes me pray for my brain to just melt into sludge so I can go back to sleep. The grass underneath me is soft enough I'm sure I could manage if I just lie here long enough...
“Xa-tu, Xa!”
A toneless voice startles me enough to pull me out of the depths of my grogginess, and I start dragging myself up to work out what just made that sound. I look up to my right and see a... large green bird person thing?
A Xatu.
A Pokemon.
My brain spins its tires in place, trying to find purchase on the scene right in front of me when a second, much more enthusiastic, cry of “Natu!” grabs my attention instead and I turn my gaze to see a tiny little Natu standing right next to it. A little lime green bird-ball. Ball-bird? It's kind of cute though.
Turning my gaze around me I spot four more Pokemon to my left, spotted white and red fluffy rabbit things with swirls for eyes I can't recall the name of. Three are slowly teetering in place as they stand on the grass next to me, staring, while the fourth does so from atop the head of the rightmost of the Pokemon, somehow keeping its balance. I can't tell if its trying to imitate the totem-like aesthetic of the Xatu by perching on the head of another one of its kind or if it just... does that sometimes. It would help if I could recall what these Pokemon even were.
“Speeen daaaa.”
That's convenient. The currently tallest Spinda called out its name, because that's what Pokemon do when you stare at them in confusion. Oh, vague memories of childhood playthroughs of the first few generations of Pokemon games slowly seep back into my mind. Spinda were a normal type Pokemon that happened to be really good at confusing others, and maybe themselves, since they perpetually looked a bit off with their swirly eyes as they are. The constant teetering they're all doing even as they stand on the spot doesn't help with the impression.
The space I'm in looks to be a large clearing, in the middle of a forest. While the nearby Pokemon all stare at me, I can see beyond the Spinda another two dozen-ish of them entertaining themselves playing with one another, not interested in the strange human that had been taking a nap in the middle of nowhere until just a moment ago.
Because that was what I had been doing. Asleep, headache, awake, surrounded by Pokemon in a forest. Pokemon. Pokemon. Which aren't supposed to be real but are looking right at me right now and what the fuck is going on where am I?
---
Getting slapped in the face by stubby wings brings me out of the spiral I fell in. I'd somehow ended up laying back down on the ground, the Natu from before now perched on my chest gives out an inquisitive chirp of its own name.
“Ah, thanks for that.”
The strangeness of the situation is still there, and thanking a spherical bird thing for slapping me in the face doesn't help with the feeling either, but its no longer the only thing I can think about. Something strange is going on here and I can't afford to just lie around and wait for things to sort themselves out.
The four curious Spinda seemed to have wandered off to rejoin the rest of their pack, still visible on the other side of the clearing. Two pairs of Spinda with one balancing on the head of the other circle around each other while the rest watch them, wiggling slightly in place. Maybe it's a dance, or a fight, or some strange ritual they like to engage in? Or they could just be having fun, none of them seemed violent so far, and the Spinda all look goofy enough its hard to take them seriously, bizarre antics or not.
“Xa!”
The cry from the larger of the two birds drags my attention back to the Xatu standing by my side, looking down at my figure half sprawled on the ground, Natu still perched on my chest. It quickly hops off as I pull myself the rest of the way up to a seated position.
“Uhh, thank you. Thank you for.. waking me up? Looking over me? I'm not really sure what's going on here, or how much you can understand me, or how I ended up here at all and this is all really confusing and just-”
I gesture vaguely to the air, not sure how to put into words the Everything that's just been sprung on me.
“Xatu.” The bird replies, before turning to face Natu, quietly standing next to me, “Xa.”
And apparently having said enough, the Xatu levitates its perfectly still body several metres into the air, only to spread its wings, rotate onto its front and start gliding up and out of the clearing, over the treetops, and out of sight.
Startled by the performance, my brain starts dredging up whatever dusty memories it can to explain things. Xatu – a psychic Pokemon. Flying too. Has a Pokedex description or rumours or lore or something about the ability to see the future. Given nothing that just happened makes any actual sense, I'm inclined to believe there's some bullshit precognition at work right now.
I wake up in the middle of nowhere, meet some non-existent existing Pokemon, and then a Xatu drops off their little Natu with me and leaves as soon as I stop having a mental breakdown over the upending of reality as I know it.
“Hey Natu, I think your parent might be an asshole.”