Chapter Text
The video starts. It shows a dull, gray room. A small bed with similarly boring sheets sits in the corner, next to a nightstand with a few personal items and a lamp on it. A chair sits in the middle of the room, facing the camera.
"Is it on?" A voice says. A man walks into view from behind the camera. He squints at the camera before smiling. "Yep, looks good." he says, as he sits down on the chair. The man isn't particularly striking. Short brown hair covers his head, his dark blue eyes look at the camera behind a pair of plain glasses. He wears a black T-shirt and khaki shorts. He takes a deep breath before beginning to speak again.
"So....I guess I should start with something basic. My name is Michael Montgomery. Though, officially, I've been designated as Subject C0001. I'm, uh, 25 years old, I used to live in what was called Pennsylvania. And...uh...I liked to work with cars?."
The now identified Michael stops and sighs before placing his hands over his face for a moment.
"Sorry if this just...seems weird at first. I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what I want to record here." He pauses for another moment, staring into the camera while thinking.
"I guess some context would help. Today is March 20, 20XX, and it's been about a week since the whole world just....kinda fell apart. Not literally of course, I doubt I'd be here talking if that were the case. It just...." Michael sighs again. "There was this broadcast. A video sent out all over the world, on every TV channel there was. Well, is. The video is still playing, apparently. It's about 6 minutes long and just...keeps looping over and over I guess. The strange part is the video itself. If you watch the whole thing, you transform into...a Pokemon."
Michael holds up his hands.
"Now I don't know who might be watching this. It could be 5, 10, 50 years into the future for all I know. The term "Pokemon" might have a radically different context for you."
Michael leans forward a bit and puts his elbows on his knees.
"For me, up until last week, Pokemon was a game. And I mean that in the most literal way. It was a fictional world, with fictional places, filled with fictional creatures. I was a fan of it, played the games, watched the show, it was great stuff."
Michael leans back into the chair, sighing once more with sadness.
"Then my dad turned into a goddamn Zoroark and I had to fend him off with a shotgun. Lucky little me, I stream all my shows through the Internet so I didn't get caught by the video. Even better, I'm a real good driver, so getting out of the recently turned hellscape formerly known as Philadelphia wasn't as hard as it could have been."
Michael jolts back up and slaps both of his thighs to encourage himself.
"So, lets get to the important stuff, I guess. I'm currently at a military base I've been told not to name, and the few super geniuses we have left want to start figuring out how the video manages to completely rewrite a person's existence. To do that, they need people that they can show the video to guilt-free, and then write down what happens. And....I'll admit it, I'm not much. I dropped out of college, I haven't had a steady job, ever, and my only plan in life before this was to bum out in my parents spare bedroom until inspiration struck. Now? I...I got nothing, man. I'm not the kind of guy whose gonna be able to go out there and rebuild society. I know that, and the people in charge here also probably know that. So, by volunteering before they got desperate, I can at least say it was partially on my terms."
Michael looks down at the floor.
"They're gonna show the video to me, but only a little bit at a time. To catalog the process step by step. To see at what point I stop being...me."
Michael looks back up, a bit of a smile on his face.
"The good news is that once they give me a short burst, they plan to let it sit for a day to see what happens. So if I'm lucky, and this isn't instant, I can keep going for a while. Maybe try to...I don't know. Build up a resistance to it? Maintain my humanity? I plan to rewatch these myself, so if this is me that's hearing this...please try to keep holding on."
Michael stands up and walks over to the camera.
"Until tomorrow, I guess. Michael, out."
The video ends.