A Life Yet Lived - Chapter 1 (Part 1)
#2 of A Life Yet Lived
--Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening--
Part 1
--7 MONTHS EARLIER--
"How is he?"
"The subject is stable. I believe that the experiment was successful, doctor."
"Keep an eye on him, Crayton. Make sure that his vitals stay that way."
Tomas awoke to a world surrounded by darkness. He couldn't see, couldn't speak, and couldn't move at all. He felt numb, floating in a murky void, with only the muffled sounds of conversation to keep him conscious. Where was he? What's happening?
He began to panic when he heard the voices speak up again.
"Let's finish the process, Crayton. Begin the Secondary Imbuement Procedure."
"Yes, sir. Preparing to inject the IV sedative."
'A sedative?' Tomas thought with growing anxiety, 'What's happening? What are they doing to me?'
He struggled to move. A limb, an eyelash, anything. Nothing worked. He couldn't even feel any of his limbs, assuming that they were still there to begin with. Whatever was happening, one thing was for certain: he was utterly at their mercy. Tomas felt himself slip back into unconsciousness, almost as if he were sinking into a thick, dismal slime. Distant words slipped into his ears before he went under completely.
"Sorry, Tomas. If only you knew just how importa..."?
Tomas awoke to the thick scent of grass and moss. It almost stung his nose, like sleeping in a bed covered with soggy mildew, and he instinctively shook his head in an attempt to be rid of the smell.
'Great...just like home,' he thought bitterly. His eyelids felt heavy, still weighed down with a lingering drowsiness that made every movement an arduous task in itself. It took Tomas another minute or two just to force his eyelids open. It took all of two seconds to quickly snap them shut again, to block out the painful light shining in his face.
"D...damn it!" Tomas yelped, bringing a hand over his face to shield his eyes. Except, that's not actually what he heard himself say. He froze, and then spoke again.
"Umbre, um, umbreon!"
What the hell? Was he still dreaming?
"Um, reon!"
He forced his trembling eyelids open again, and held them open until his eyes finally adjusted to the light. The first thing he noticed was the short, black snout reaching from just below his eyes, tapered to a small tip several inches in front of his face. Still feeling a bit dazed, he slowly lifted his eyes up to his hand, which was still shielding his face...only, it wasn't exactly a hand. It looked more like a paw. Covered with dark fur.
"Umbreon?"
He moved it back and forth experimentally, flexing the "fingers" on the paw. It was definitely his paw all right. But, how was that possible?
"Um..."
'Oh, wait,' Tomas thought, 'I think I'm dreaming. Yeah, that's got to be it.' It had to be one of those "lucid dreams" that he had read about in...in...wait...
...where did he read about it, and when did he read it? Tomas couldn't remember. In fact, he couldn't remember a lot of stuff at the moment.
'What a weird dream.' He got to his feet, groggy and a little bit nauseous, and took stock of himself. Sure enough, his whole body seemed to be covered in that same thick, dark fur that he saw on his hand. Or was it a paw, now? Actually, did it really even matter in a dream? Tomas scoffed at the thought.
'Well, this is a little different...' Tomas paused in his thoughts as he turned a paw over, studying the soft, pink padding underneath, '...but, since I'm already here, I might as well take a look around. See where this dream is going.'
He sat up on his haunches, and slowly took in his environment. He was in a forest it seemed, but not one that he recognized. Tall oak trees surrounded him, dotting a landscape that was covered with vibrant grass and flowers that swayed in a soft wind. Neatly trimmed bushes lined the sides of a nearby dirt path which led to what Tomas assumed to be a lake in the distance. It was difficult to see from his position in the fields, but he could make out a shimmering light that assaulted his eyes from that direction. Golden rays of sunlight shone from between thick bunches of leaves in the trees, agitating his sensitive eyes further. The chirps and tweets of various flying Pokemon filled the air above him, mingling with the buzzing and clicks from a few insect Pokemon that were wandering the area as well.
"Turt! Twig!"
Tomas almost leapt out of his skin as a Turtwig scurried past him and disappeared behind a nearby bush, a cheerful expression on its face. Instead, he jolted backward with a surprised yelp, stumbling over his own paws and landing hard on his butt, tail twitching anxiously behind him.
"Holy crap!" he blurted out, heart pounding from the sudden fright, "W-was that a Turtwig? That thing's almost as big as me!"
Tomas was almost about to yell after it when he froze in place, eyes widening as he gradually realized that he had actually understood what it had said: "Good morning!"
It was a strange, new awareness for him; what he understood and what he actually heard seemed to be entirely different...and yet, something clicked in the back of his mind. Somehow, without even thinking about it, he was able to grasp the Turtwig's strange and abrupt greeting. But, how was that possible?
He blinked twice, and shook his head again. "Am...am I still dreaming?"
"Not as far as I can tell," a shrill voice said from behind him, "Were you hit by a Confuse Ray or something?"
The Umbreon spun around, only to be greeted by the smiling muzzle of a Cyndaquil.
"Good morning! Feeling better, mister?" it inquired with a high pitch, but decidedly female voice.
Tomas could do nothing but stare at her, wide eyed and completely dumbfounded. _'What the--! Where did she come from? And how long was she just sitting there...watching me?' _
His thoughts were abruptly brushed aside once the Cyndaquil's words finally sunk in. "W...wait a minute! Mister? I'm not that old!"
"Sorry, force of habit," she replied with a shrug, "Um, do you have a name, or should I call you Umbreon?"
"Just call me...Tomas," he blurted out. Of course, with chunks of his memory missing, he wasn't really even certain that his name was actually 'Tomas.' But, since it was the first name that popped into his head, he decided to just accept it and leave it at that.
"That's a good name!" she said with a happy squeal, "And you can call me Cyndaquil!"
'Wow, that's...unique,' Tomas thought, heavy with sarcasm. Normally, he wouldn't even bother to contain his opinions from others like this, but there was something different here. Maybe it had something to do with her kind nature and genuine worry for him. Or, maybe it had something to do with the fact that her back was on fire!
A fire-type Pokemon, obviously.
Well, real or not, taking an Ember attack to the face wasn't on Tomas' list of enjoyable dream scenarios, so he kept his big mouth shut.
After studying the Umbreon for a moment, Cyndaquil moved a few steps closer and placed a warm paw on his muzzle, jarring him from his thoughts. "You look kinda' sick. Maybe you should get a drink of water."
Tomas blinked, then looked at the Cyndaquil. "Uh, y...yeah. Maybe some water will help me wake up."
"Well, there's a lake at the end of that path. Follow me!"
Tomas watched her happily trot away, and then stared down at his own paws. 'Come to think of it, I hadn't even tried to walk with these things since this dream started.' _ He lifted one forepaw into the air carefully, hesitant to move. 'How did they work again? One paw in front of the other, right?_'
Well, it certainly sounded simple enough.
Unsteadily, he placed the forepaw onto a patch of grass directly in front of him, and then reached out with the other. It felt unnatural in a way, balancing his body weight on such thin, lithe limbs. He pushed forward, overcompensating the momentum needed on his hind legs, and stumbled over his own paws, falling into a heap on the ground. Cyndaquil was already several meters away when she heard a soft thud and a curse. She looked back, and found Tomas lying on his side, legs flailing wildly, struggling to get upright again.
"Uh, a little help, here!"
"Wow, you were out longer than I thought," Cyndaquil murmured, a tinge of worry coating her voice, "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need to go to the town?"
"The town?"
"Yeah," Cyndaquil said, walking back to his side, "the humans there have something called a Pokemon Center. They can fix you up, no problem!"
"Yeah, sure," Tomas muttered half-heartedly, "Just help me up, please."
"Uh, there is one little thing I should probably mention."
The Umbreon sighed. There's always a string attached, isn't there? Just his luck. "Which is?" he grumbled.
"I can't just take you to the Pokemon Center. You have to go see my trainer first."
"And...?"
"And..." she continued, "...I can't really guarantee that he won't try to capture you. I mean, you are an unusual looking Pokemon, after all. Is your species even common to this area?"
"Area? Wait, where are we again?"
Cyndaquil furrowed her brow in confusion. "What? You mean you don't know?"
"Nope. Not a clue," Tomas answered from the ground, "Now, if you could help me get--"
"Well," Cyndaquil interrupted, absently scratching her head with a paw, "I'm not entirely sure myself, but I did overhear my trainer talking about 'Sinnoa' or something."
"Sinnoa? Oh, you mean Sinnoh?"
"Yeah!" she exclaimed happily, "That place!"
"Well, I don't think Umbreon are all that common in Sinnoh," Tomas said, "so I guess it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for an Umbreon to be seen in this area. But...logic doesn't really matter here, since this is a dream."
Tomas finally got back on his paws, and then glanced around. "Come on, let's go find this trainer of yours. Might as well see what happens next."
Cyndaquil stared as Tomas clumsily padded away, taking each step as if the ground were made of broken glass. He stumbled twice, but managed to stay upright this time. She scratched her head again, puzzled by his words. "Uh...dream? What dream?"
"This dream, right here!" he called back to her before stumbling again.
"Uh...yeah...I think you really do need to get checked out, Tomas!" she replied as she trotted after him, "And you're going the wrong way!"
Unbeknownst to Tomas, a strange observer had been watching him from the trees. It fought the urge to burst out laughing when Tomas tumbled over, and then slinked into the shadows of a tree when Cyndaquil turned in its direction to look back at him. It couldn't afford to be seen, not yet. The plan was still underway, and discretion was key in these types of situations...
...but still, that was hilarious!
"I am definitely going to hold that one over Tomas' head when we meet!" the observer said with a sly giggle. "And he hasn't changed a bit! I think this might just work out after all!"
And with that, the observer vanished with a small POP, off to put the next part of its master plan into motion.