Josh's Journal: Entry 1

Well, this is my first entry in my new journal. I figured I might as well start keeping one, given…recent events. I’m not quite sure what to right write in it, though…Guess I might as well catalogue what’s been happening to me. I’ll start with when I woke up.

I found myself lying in a bed. It wasn’t a very comfortable one, for that matter. I’m used to sleeping on the floor, though, so it wasn’t unbearable. I’m a bit of a lazy bum, so I lay there for a while before opening my eyes.

I had recently been kidnapped, I remember that much…and since then, the friendliest people I’ve met were some tools in the back of a van that kept trying to kill me. …Ok, maybe the kidnappers weren’t SO mean to me, after all. Anyway, looking around, I seemed to be in…well, my first guess would be a hospital of some sort, but why would kidnappers take me there? Kinda a public place…

Anyway, what clued me into in to it being a hospital was the equipment scattered around. I don’t know the names of all the stuff, but I definitely recognized some of those heartrate monitors…the walls, ceiling, and floor were all completely white, which was another clue, and there were several beds along the walls, one of which I was in.

Naturally, the first thing that came to mind was ‘Why am I here?’ Naturally, I didn’t have a way to answer that. I seemed to be the only one around. Well, apart from the lump under the covers a few beds down, but they seemed to be sleeping. Figuring I might as well try to find a way out of here, I got out of the bed.

The first thing I noticed was that I was covered in mucus again, as was the bed. The second thing I noticed, when I looked down to see the mucus (Why I wanted to look at it, I have no idea,) was that my skin was blue. And that my clothes were gone, though I kinda didn’t notice that…considering that my skin was blue, and all.

Most people would scream, but, well, I’m kinda more of a ‘stand and stare’ type of person…so that’s just what I did. Stood there, stared, and moved on. After a few minutes, I looked up again. Still nothing but equipment, beds, and a lump…all of which seemed a lot bigger, for some reason…At first, I considered the possibility of me somehow shrinking, but it didn’t make much sense to me…makes a lot more sense now, though…

“About time you work up,” said a sudden voice behind me that made me jump. I turned around to see…well, this might sound strange, but…wait, is anybody even going to read this? I hope not…it’s not exactly like I want someone to read my personal thoughts, exactly…anyway, I saw an Azumarill…A Pokemon. Wearing a nurse’s hat and carrying a clipboard to boot. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn’t just seeing things, but there she was, plain as day…or night…no windows, so I can’t tell. Come to think of it would rubbing my eyes even help? Anyway…

“You were out for ten days,” she said, not looking very happy with me. I knew I slept a lot, but…ten days? What had happened?

“Um…sorry, I’m a bit of a deep sleeper,” I replied, reaching up to rub the back of my head…it was a habit I had acquired from anime, for some reason…It was then that I noticed that my hair was missing, too…For some reason, I decided to look at my hand at that point, as though that would answer as to why I was suddenly bald. All I was met with was another surprise. Three fingers, no thumbs. No wrists or palms, for that matter…could I even consider these hands?

“That doesn’t account for the extra days,” she said, still not looking happy. Had I really caused that much trouble taking up space in a nearly empty hospital? Or had something else happened to upset her? “Most people are only out for five or six days, seven at most.” …Okay, that was…an odd thing to say. I began to wonder just what those kidnappers were doing with the people they kidnapped to make them sleep that long…

This was also when the fact that I was now bald began to sink in. I wasn’t really upset about it, but…well seriously, what kind of a kidnapper SHAVES SOMEONE’S HEAD?! What is the PURPOSE behind that? I didn’t want to whine about not having hair, though…that was probably one of the lesser problems at the time. “Um…why…” I trailed off, not quite sure how to word the question.

“I’m not the one you should be asking,” she said quickly. “It’s not my job to explain it to you. My assistant will take you to the head of the base once I’ve given you a checkup.”

I wasn’t very fond of the idea of having a checkup at the moment. “Um…I’d rather the explanation first…I was kinda kidnapped, I think I deserve one. Why am I even IN a base?”

“You’ll get it all explained later,” she said, walking towards me. I kept backing away from her. “Stop being difficult!” she demanded after I jumped to the side and tried to head to the other side of the room.

I say tried because…well, I found that I couldn’t move after that. I struggled to, but it felt like my muscles were pushing against an invisible wall. The reason behind this was explained soon enough. “I recommend holding still when the doctor wants to give you a checkup,” came a quiet voice from behind me. Slowly, a Gluck stepped into view, going to stand next to the Azumarill.

“Thank you,” the Azumarill said to the Golduck with a smile. “And keep in mind that Jeice will be using his Psychic powers on you again if you don’t cooperate next time” she said as she turned back to me, her face stern now as she stepped forward.

“I’m not comfortable with this…” I muttered as she stopped in front of me.

“Tough.” To my surprise, all she did was close her eyes as her ears perked up a bit, slowly waving over me. It was as though she was listening to my insides, or something…I enjoy Pokemon, but I didn’t know Azurill Azumarill could do that.

After about a minute, it was over. She opened her eyes and smiled. “Ok, you’re good to go! Jeice, you know where to take him.” Before I could give so much as a ‘thank you’ (Come to think of it, why would I want to thank her for forcing me to have a checkup against my will?), the Golduck, who I now knew was named Jeice, grabbed my arm and began pulling me towards a thick-looking door in the corner. The upside was that he had stopped using Psychic, so I could walk. The downside? He was (somehow) much taller than me and had much longer legs, which meant he was significantly faster. I was already lagging behind by the time we had reached the door, half sliding, rather than walking, due to the lubrication of the mucus.

By the time he had pulled me through the door, I had nearly fallen over. Due to the sudden stop, I ended up bumping into him instead. Then falling over. Jeice paid little attention to the fact that I had fallen over, but kept his grip on my…I’m hesitant to say ‘wrist,’ so I’m gonna stick with arm. He pushed a red button on the wall as I stood back up, looking around. The room we were in was small, with nothing but two doors taking up two of the sides and a few buttons on the wall. It almost seemed to be a security checkpoint of some sort…boy was I wrong.

It turned out to be an airlock. Seconds after Jeice had pushed the button, water began pouring in from several holes that had opened up in the walls. Naturally, I panicked a bit. Golduck can breathe underwater. I wasn’t so sure about myself. Thinking back on it, I must’ve seemed quite silly…I’m surprised I hadn’t put the pieces together by then. After a frantic “Um” yielded no results, I resorted to taking a deep breath just before the water reached my mouth. I can usually hold my breath for a few minutes, so I felt I would be alright.
Jeice simply rolled his eyes, then swam out through the other door as it opened, pulling me along.

The next room was a hallway…a water-filled hallway, but clearly a hallway nonetheless. It was a rather large space, square shaped, like the room, but much larger…and much, much longer, of course…after all, it was a hallway. There were lights scattered every few feet in the ceiling, but even with them, the water was quite dark. Not too dark to see everything clearly, though…just dark enough for it to be a bit uncomfortable. Along both walls were more and more doors, all just as heavy as the previous ones had been. I suspect it’s to keep the water from getting through, or something.

What surprised me most, though, were the Pokemon. There were so many of them…not enough for the halls to be really crowded, but enough for me to wonder if I had fallen into another dimension. I wouldn’t be complaining, though it would raise some questions…for the time being, I entertained myself with looking at each Pokemon and recalling their names…well, the names of each kind of Pokemon, at least. The Golduck was named Jeice, so the others probably had their own names, too.  It was difficult, mostly due to how fast Golduck Jeice was going. Fun, though!

That is, until I began to run out of breath…I was hoping we would get to where we were going soon…I still find it a bit funny thinking back on it…Thankfully, it wasn’t much longer until we made it into a smaller, emptier tunnel, and from there to a small pool in a room with air. I immediately began to cough and gasp, taking in as much air as I could. “You held your breath through that entire trip?” Jeice asked with an ‘are you crazy’ tone of voice. All I could do was nod, still taking deep breaths.

It was about thirty seconds before I was feeling better again. “Sorry, but I’m pretty sure I can’t breathe underwater.”

Before Jeice answered, another rather aggressive-sounding voice rang out. “Great! The new guy’s an idiot!” Looking over, I saw yet another Pokemon sitting behind a desk. This one was a Tentacruel. I suppose ‘sitting’ might not be accurate…it was more like he was standing on his tentacles. Either way, he didn’t look very happy to see us. “You can go, Jeice, I’ll deal with him.” The Golduck suddenly seemed to be missing…he had dove into the water so fast I hadn’t even seen.

“Come here. Sit down,” the Tentacruel demanded…I don’t know if he intended it as such, but it certainly sounded like he was bossing me around. After a moment’s hesitation, I climbed up out of the pool and sat down in a chair on the other side of his desk, facing him. “So, you’re probably wondering why you’re here.”

“Um…duh?” Bad move on my part. I don’t think this guy likes it when people talk back to him. That look he had in his eyes…I shudder just thinking about it…

“You may call me Mr. Jerob.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Jerob! You can call me Josh! But that doesn’t really answer why I’m here, does it? Mind getting to that part? I’m kinda wondering.” …I don’t think he likes being interrupted when he’s speaking, either. But like I said, he didn’t really answer the question…

“If you are quiet and patient,” he said, putting a lot of emphasis on the words ‘quiet’ and ‘patient,’ “I will explain.” He took a moment to shuffle the papers he had been working on to the side of his desk. There were a lot of them…I suspect his many tentacles probably helped him multitask. After a few moments, he took a deep breath and began speaking.

“Long ago, Pokemon roamed the Earth, alongside humans. And if you don’t know what a Pokemon is, then you had no childhood, so no complaining. These Pokemon were more advanced than the humans in every way…power, knowledge, technology…they had been around a lot longer, and so had had more time to develop and expand their empire. The world belonged to them. So, when the humans came, the Pokemon felt threatened-“

“Wait, threatened?” I interrupted, earning myself another glare. “If they were so intelligent, wouldn’t they have realized that there was the possibility for peace, and that, as they were more powerful than the humans, they weren’t in any danger if the humans refused?”

Mr. Jerob stuttered at this. I think he wasn’t accustomed to people asking him questions. “M-Maybe they did, but they were unwilling to take the risk for peace! Now do you want to know why you were brought here or not?” I fell silent at that one. I admit I was more curious about that than about a discrepancy in his story. He seemed to realize this, as he continued soon after. “Now, rather than commune with the humans and give the chance for peace, the Pokemon decided to suppress the growing human population. Humans were captured, and isolated. Many were enslaved…many were killed.”

It struck me as odd that his voice hadn’t stuttered at all during this last part. It was as though he didn’t consider the event a big deal…I mean, new species, Xenocide,…that’s not exactly small talk! “At some point,” he continued. “Pokemon abuse of humans got so bad that the humans didn’t take it anymore, and rebelled. They began learning how to use the Pokemon technology in secret, and quickly became proficient enough with it to use it to fight on par with the Pokemon. They stole enough technology to arm every human that had been enslaved…their numbers were so few that the Pokemon didn’t notice. And then came the war.”

He paused after that. It was as though he was trying to build dramatic tension…or maybe he was just watching for my reaction. I didn’t really give him one…just went with the ‘stop and stare’ routine again. After a while, he continued. “The war went on for years-“

“Woah, wait,” I interrupted again. “You said the humans were small in number, right? And were fighting on par with the Pokemon, so then shouldn’t the Pokemon have overwhelmed them with sheer numbers right away?

I didn’t know Tentacruel could turn red. It’s not a comforting sight. Rather than yell at me, however, he sighed and slowly returned to his normal color before he continued as though I had never interrupted him. “It was violent and many lives were lost on both sides.” I began to not pay as close attention to him…it’s not that I didn’t want to know about the war, it was certainly tragic, and I was still listening, but…well, I wasn’t exactly learning much from his words. I decided to let my eyes wander around the room a bit. Rather than being made of artificially-made materials, this room was apparently stone.

It was a lot less precise than the other rooms, with occasional outcroppings jutting out from the walls and floor. On one wall was a small bookcase…it looked rather dusty. I couldn’t see the titles of the books from where I was sitting, so I looked elsewhere. On another wall was a door. That was it…just a door. And not heavy like the ones underwater, either. There weren’t any windows, so I couldn’t see outside…though the wall farthest from the pool I had come out of, behind Mr. Jerob, appeared to be made of glass…at first, I thought it was a fish tank on the other side, though I didn’t take into account thee unusual absence of fish.

Mr. Jerob didn’t seem to have even noticed that I wasn’t looking at him anymore. “Eventually, when both sides realized that the war showed no signs of stopping, a ceasefire was called.” I still doubt his story…it took them years for them to call a ceasefire? That doesn’t line up with the Pokemon wanting peace…wait, why did the Pokemon even need…whatever technology it was that the humans stole, anyway? I’ll try to make a point of asking Mr. Jerob that later…

“The Pokemon were to leave to another dimension, while the humans were to remain here.” Gotta say, that one bummed me out…the Pokemon had to go? Though I immediately noticed the discrepancy of the fact that there were several Pokemon here…one was even talking to me at that moment! I was beginning to wonder (and hope) if I had been brought to whichever dimension the Pokemon had left to.

That hope was crushed quickly, however, when the door opened, and a human came through. “Jerob, you,” the human began, only to stop abruptly when he saw me. “You’re not done with him yet?!”

“It’s not my fault he’s dense!” Mr. Jerob snapped back to him. “You try explaining all this to a kid who won’t stay quiet for two seconds!”

“I’d estimate closer to a minute,” I said. Mr. Jerob facetentacled. What? I can’t exactly say he facepalmed if he didn’t have any palms, can I? In all fairness, it was probably longer than a minute…maybe he was surprised by my poor sense of time?

“Well hurry up with him!” The man demanded, turning around and heading to the door. “The longer you take, the longer we have to wait!” Having said his piece, he slammed the door behind him. Mr. Jerob seemed to be muttering something under his breath…

Anyway, he continued soon after. “As a part of the agreement, the Pokemon were to take with them all evidence of the fact that they had once lived here…all traces that they had left behind were removed. Fossils, buildings, technology…they took it all with them, so that it would never be used for or against humans ever again. One Pokmon was all that remained…a single Mew, left behind to make sure that humanity had truly forgotten Pokemon. That Mew is where this all started.”

Even after the explanation, I don’t see how the Mew had started it all if all of this had happened before…but I guess it makes sense to Mr. Jerob…think I’m gonna call him ‘Red Tentacruel’ from now on…Anyway, the explanation didn’t end there. “One day, about a hundred or so years ago, a man named Mr. X was on a jungle expedition and encountered Mew. Mew, seeking to keep his existence a secret, attacked.”

I was really starting to doubt the story at this point…couldn’t Mew have simply transformed to hide, or something? Or turned invisible used Teleport? “Naturally, Mr. X was no match for Mew. The battle was over quickly, with many of Mr. X’s expedition not surviving. Mew, arrogant from the victory, declared Pokemon to be superior to humans and, in his arrogance, used his powers to send a shockwave around the Earth, activating genes that had been long-dormant inside of humans.

“Among the different forms of abuse that the humans had to suffer at the hands of the Pokemon was sexual abuse…offspring were produced...” I could feel my face contort at the mention of the subject. “I see you realize the gravity of the situation,” Mr. Jerob commented, incorrectly judging my reaction. As it is, I have nothing against there being relationships between humans and Pokemon, be it sexual or otherwise…I just am rather uncomfortable with the topic of mating…

“These offspring appeared human, but had Pokemon genes in them. As time passed, and humans repopulated, these genes were passed down through generations. When Mew activated them…most of those with the gene began to turn into Pokemon.” His voice lowered at the last word, and contempt could be heard in his tone.

“Mr. X saw the problem brewing and sought to correct it. He himself had become a Mewtwo, and with the transformation came all of the memories of the war between Pokemon and humans. In order to prevent another war from brewing, Mr. X created Pokextinction…a secret society dedicated to eradicating this gene in humans, and turning those who have fallen victim to it back into their human forms. This base is but one of the many branches of Pokextinction.

“Woah woah woah, wait wait wait,” I interrupted again. “You follow a guy named ‘Mr. X?’ Seriously? I mean, come on, that practically screams ‘secret conspiracy,’ doesn’t it?” I know that wasn’t really the subject at hand here, but…well, come on! It was practically calling for me to say it!

“Yes, we follow him!” Red Tentacruel shouted, his tentacle slamming on the desk. “He is our leader and we will continue to follow him!” After seeing that sizeable dent left in the solid wooden desk, I figured I should stop interrupting…didn’t want the desk to take any more of a beating, after all. “Mew saw what was happening and crated a society of his own…Pokeumans, a group made to train these transformed people to fight us, and then reveal the existence of Pokemon to the world.”

He was beginning to calm down again, but not completely. The result was him being pink instead of red…He was pink. Seriously, to anyone who might be reading this, just try to imagine that for a moment, a pink Tentacruel. You imagining it? Ok, let’s continue.

“For a long time now, Pokextinction and Pokeumans have been at war…not quite like the one from so long ago, but each group is fighting for their own goals. This is where you come in…As you have no doubt noticed, you are one of those who had this dormant gene.”

“I am?” Seriously, I hadn’t figured it out by then. With a sigh, Mr. Jerob Red Tentacruel Pink Tentacruel lifted up a small mirror from behind the desk and turned it to face me.

That was when I started to feel like an idiot. I have no idea how I hadn’t put the pieces together by then…the blue skin, the three-fingered hands, the fact that I was even here in the first place…Staring back at me from that mirror was a Quagsire.

Pink Tentacruel put the mirror back soon after. “You were brought here for your own safety…had the Pokumans gotten to you first, you wouldn’t have been leaving any time soon. Now, we can change you back, but we’re going to need you to cooperate with us for that to happen.”

“Why would I want to change back?” I laughed. Mr. Tentacruel immediately appeared quite flustered. “I know that many people wouldn’t like this, but to me, this is awesome!”

“You…You LIKE being this…this FREAK?!” he shouted. I’d say he wasn’t very happy with me at that moment.

“Well, I was a freak as a human, so why is this any different? What about you, you’re staying in that form for whatever reason.”

“I have my own reasons for staying in this form!” He almost seemed…offended by it. He said the next part quickly...he had seemed to be in a hurry ever since that human had come through the door. “Normally, I would allow questions, but I don’t have the time right now. You will be staying in room 224, it’s up to you to find it.” And with that, he left through the door, slamming it shut behind him…no idea how he managed to fit…I guess it would make sense that Tentacruel and Tentacool are just as flexible as jellyfish, so maybe that explains it.

Thinking back, that might have been a good time to explore his office a bit…I didn’t see any security cameras, or anything like that in the room…but that would have been dishonest, even if I had found the answers I was looking for. Instead, I just turned and…well, after a bit of hesitation, slipped back into the pool.

I hesitated because I still wasn’t used to the idea that I could breathe underwater. I knew that I could, but…well, would YOU just dive in right away? I suppose you would…you’re a journal, all you need is for someone to throw you…

After maybe a minute or so…or six…I dove under. It was difficult taking those first few breaths, my gag reflex kept persisting. I think I had taken several breaths before I had finally begun to breathe easy again…it felt weird, though…I could feel the liquid coming in and out of me…it felt like I SHOULD be drowning, but I wasn’t. Boy am I thankful for that, though it’s definitely going to take some getting used to.

The water felt comforting on my skin. It was cold, very cold, but it somehow wasn’t uncomfortable, despite me being used to shivering at this temperature. It felt as though the water was rejuvenating me…I’m guessing I didn’t feel it earlier with Jeice because I was so focused on holding my breath. Or maybe it was the simple fact that I was holding my breath that was stopping it…I’m not gonna pretend to know Quagsire physiology.

Learning to swim seemed even harder than breathing. I wasn’t a bad swimmer before, but I had much longer arms and legs before…the swimming methods I was used to using before changing barely moved me at all now.  I figured that I should try coming up with new methods instead, rather than trying the old ones over and over. I started with a sort of wiggle…that was even less effective than the doggie paddle.

Next I tried compressing myself and letting myself go like a spring…that hurt to even try. My third idea was to try just using my feet and new tail as paddles. That one worked, though it was ridiculously hard to steer! I bumped into the wall several times just getting out of that first hallway! I tried practicing using my arms as rudders, or paddling in different directions to steer, but that didn’t do me much good.

Eventually, I got going, though. I managed to make it out into the larger hallway and turn right. I didn’t rally have any idea where I was going, so I figured I’d just keep going until I got somewhere. At least I would end up SOMEWHERE, right? It was going well until I bumped into a…it was one of the few Pokemon I didn’t know the name of…a blue, fishlike Pokemon. She wasn’t very happy about it…

“Watch it!” she shouted at me.

“Sorry, I’m new at this,” I tried to explain, but she didn’t seem willing to listen.

“Oh, so that’s an excuse to bump into me?”

I just shrugged…really, I’m not sure what to do in a situation like this! She didn’t seem to accept that, however. Her response? She shot a blast of hot water out of her mouth. I flailed around, trying to cool down while everyone else just stood…er…floated there and laughed.

I admit I probably looked pretty funny, but it certainly didn’t feel funny to me at the time! I sure hope that not everyone in the base is like that…For that matter, I hope I just got the wrong impression of those people. Maybe they thought I was just being funny? My face still feels sore from that…Feels raw to the touch, too…ow…

Once I had eventually cooled down, and the audience had eventually calmed down, I started swimming again…I waited until I was sure none of the people who had seen that were around before going to a random Poliwag and asking which way the room was.

…It was right behind me. Literally. Idiot rating: + 2. + 4, once I realized I couldn’t figure out how to open the door. + 8 when I figured out all I needed to do was push gently and it would slide to the side. My dignity isn’t going to have it easy here…

The room wasn’t very decorated. It was about as big as a large closet, with two beds on either side of the room, and a mirror on the wall in the middle. That was about it. Oh…and the lone, dim light right in the center of the ceiling, making the room look haunted. There aren’t any switches, as far as I can see, which leads me to believe that the light just stays on constantly…or that there’s some sort of a ‘mater switch’ that Red Tentacruel can flip at his leisure. Probably the second one.

There was already a Carvanha in the room at the time. He had apparently been napping on one of the beds…the one to the left, to be specific…but looked up at me when I came in. “Uh…hi!” I said, waving. “I guess I’m your new…roommate, huh?”

He watched me for a few seconds before smirking. “Oh look, fresh meat.”

“Easy there, toothy,” I said, backing up a step.

A split second later, he was up in my face, yelling “That’s Mr. Toothy to you!”

I flinched a bit from the shock, but shrugged and said “Ok, Mr. Toothy, then.”

He seemed to puff up a bit at that…he seemed quite upset for some reason…though he soon went back to his bed with a grumble. “It’s late, I’m tired, so just don’t bother me.”

“Wait…we’re supposed to sleep…here?” Bit of an obvious question, but it raised a rather important concern…

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Um…water kinda…wakes me up.” It’s true…in the past, a single drop of water on my face was able to wake me up immediately, no matter how soundly I was sleeping…and for the record, I sleep like a log. Four alarm clocks can be blaring in my ear and I wouldn’t know…I’ve tried it. “So, if I have to sleep underwater…” I continued.

“Look, just lay down in the bed and leave me alone.” He didn’t seem to be in a very talkative mood…so that’s just what I did. Immediately, I felt something hard under the pillow…reaching under, I found a book of some kind and…well, I THINK it’s a pencil…

Not wanting to bother Mr. Toothy, I didn’t do anything with it and just laid down and closed my eyes. True to form, I was laying there awake for several hours, unable to sleep under the water…After a while, Mr. Toothy seemed to be snoring, so I took out the book and looked through it.

The cover was made of some kind of a hard black substance. Inside were several green, leaf-like pages…I have no idea how they were surviving underwater, but they seemed to be in pretty good condition. What stood out to me was that the book was entirely blank…well, that and the fact that it was even here for the first place…

I sat there with it for quit a while, deciding what to do with it…tell someone and hand it in? Put it back? I felt telling someone could be dangerous, given how I’ve been treated so far…and putting it back would mean it would stay there for who knows how long, and give me an uncomfortable pillow…

Eventually, I decided to use it to catalogue my time here. The pencil seems to work pretty well on it…it might be a pen, actually, since I’ve noticed that it hasn’t been getting any shorter since I started righting writing with it. And that’s what has led me to this point…Mr. Toothy is still snoring in the bed just a few feet away, while I am sitting here, drowsy, but unable to sleep. And this concludes my first journal entry. I’ll write in it again later, adding more of what’s happened…for now, I’m gonna keep trying to sleep…