I sighed. I probably didn't have a choice. I worked up my courage and walked onto the road. I turned to the man as he finished packing up his stuff again. I cleared my throat.

He looked up in surprise. He suddenly jumped back and reached in his belt. "HO-HO! A Vaporeon! A very rare pokemon around here! I must capture it!"

I sighed. You must be laughing this up up there. I thought to the sky.

He suddenly threw a pokeball from his belt. He threw it towards me. 

Now there were many reasons the next event happened. I have never actually had a pokeball be thrown at me, human or otherwise. Also, my strange new body wasn't exactly built for pure speed.

So I got hit by it. At first I was just annoyed, but I suddenly felt like my mind was being ripped from my body, and my surroundings began to disappear. I found myself in an incredibly calm darkness. I felt at peace, and the back of my mind wanted to drift off.

No. Wake up.

But it's so quiet. This could be nice.

No. Shut up.

But this could be so nice. Sleep...

Listen, if you don't shut up and let us get out of here, I will force feed us tuna salad, and you know that gives us indigestion.

I had no further problems with that part of my mind. I struggled and eventually felt myself returning to a sense of being solid again. I shook myself a little, then spoke up before he could do anything else.

"WAIT A MINUTE!" I yelled.

He looked at me in surprise. "Are you speaking to me? But you can't speak to me unless... Are you some sort of water spirit? FORGIVE ME, WATER SPIRIT!!!"

This guy's a few slices short of a loaf.

"No, I'm not a water spirit. I need your help. This...this is gonna sound crazy, but I am, uh, a human who was turned into a pokemon. I, uh, I was hoping that you could help me. I...I dunno if I could make it."

He seemed to sort of get calmer. "Why do you need me?"

"Because...if I run into a trainer, they might try to catch me. If I'm with you, they probably won't try to. You know, hopefully."

It suddenly occurred to me that I was dealing with a guy who had already shown to not be that intelligent. And he was super creepy.

He seemed to contemplate what I was saying for a while. I sat there quietly. As I did, I noticed a repetitive motion behind me. I looked back, and noticed my tail swinging behind me. I tried to will it to stay down, but I had never had a tail before. It kept going. I spoke into my mind Stop that. Cut it out. But it just kept going. Finally, I sat a foot down on top of it. It was pretty painful, but it worked.

"Hmm. I supposed being the goodnatured and helpful man I am, I have but no choice to assist you on this journey!"

Well. That was easy. Almost.

"So!! What do we do first?"

"Uh...we walk."

He snapped his fingers. "RIGHT!! Of course!"

I sighed and settled in for a LONG journey.

We started walking for a while. I will let you know I have very little patience, nor am I in good shape. I was getting tired. I needed to distract myself, so I started trying to strike up conversation.

"So. What are you doing around here?"

"Well, I had dedicated my life to climbing. I worked tirelessly, only occasionally taking fifteen light snacks."

I rolled my eyes.

"Eventually, I decided that it wasn't for me. That's when I decided I would become a POKEMON TRAINER!!" I winced and tried to avoid having my eardrums blasted out. "Anyway, I have finally taken off on my journey recently, but sadly, the first gym in Oreburgh is quite a distance away..."

"Wait wait wait...where am I?"

"You see, right past that little beach there, is Sunyshore city!"

"WHAAT!!"