Chapter 1: Awakenings
I awoke with a roar, fire and fury raging in my chest as I sat up from my prone position and unleashed hate on… Nothing? Smoke peters out quickly in front of me as my heart pounds and I hear only my breathing. My eyes begin to focus and I see not the battlefield I was expecting, but a quiet little room lined with…decorations for hatchlings.
The walls were lined with beds of only slightly varying sizes, and all featuring bars. They were small, but clearly meant for many different kinds of baby Pokemon. Absolutely not the place I expected to find myself waking up, and certainly did nothing to settle the panic still making itself a home in my chest. Why couldn’t I control it as easily as I should be able to? At least I could calm my breathing and focus on the situation still, but my heart continued to race unabated. I had to figure this out.
So I take stock of my surroundings. First and foremost, I appear to be sitting on something soft, though why did it feel like two somethings almost? There was a slight difference between the area under my butt, and under my legs. I’m clearly on a raised surface… Probably very raised judging by the distance between me and the floor. Though, now that I thought about it, those cribs actually looked bigger than they really should be; it was only my initial thought of them being for babies that made them appear small.
The whole room looked to be made for adult Pokemon, with how it scaled up to me. The Poke dolls scattered across the floor, the toy blocks, even a little toy train… And all of the embarrassing looking clothes in an open closet directly ahead of me, lit by an absolutely huge window hanging over one of the walls of cribs to my right, with the other wall and a door sitting opposite.
I scoot forward, prepared to jump down from this surface and investigate, but stop as my stomach gets twisted up in knots and my head pounds, eliciting more panicked panting as I lose focus again. But that’s not what worried me the most… I know I should have far more aches and pains all over my body, and yet all I actually have is a pounding head and a sour stomach. I must have been unconscious for several days- no, make that weeks to a few months. I should be covered in injuries. After all, that’s why I lost consciousness…wasn’t it?
Slowly, I reign in my breathing, and finally scoot down from this raised table, as I quickly discern its features once I land and the world stops feeling like it’s about to race off without me. I nearly stumble over myself as I turn around to look at it, my legs not really responding the way I want them to. Both as if something was impeding them, and that they felt a little less coordinated. I owe that up to my pounding head and the ringing behind my ears to investigate it later while I take in the furniture I was placed on.
I expected to find some kind of torture table with aperatus for dealing with powerhouses like myself, but I should have realized sooner that assumption would be a mistake when I’m reminded I was held by no restraints. For, in reality, the table seemed to fit in perfectly with the room I’m currently in. It was tall, what would have been chest height to perhaps some kind of legendary Pokemon, and featured two drawers just beneath its surface. And below that was a tall cylindrical object to my left in its own little cubby hole, and on the right three shelves, the top one lined with small rectangular plastic packages, bottles with thin caps and “Little League” brand hatchling powder logos, and a box that seems to contain disposable gloves. All unopened, and all arranged in rows like for a supermart shelf. Below that was several towels of various pastel colors, pink and blue being the most frequent. And below that, squared, plasticky objects folded up neatly and… It just clicked for me what those must be, and I instinctively looked down at myself dreading the confirmation of my fears.
Hugging my waist, and wrapped around the very upper portion of my legs to hinder even a reptile such as myself, was a diaper sized perfectly for me, exactly like the ones I just identified in front of me! They were a dull red, which contrasted nicely with the dark gray of my scales (Why was that the first thing I’d latch on?), and featured first evolution fire types of all kinds in battle poses or breathing fire or what have you on a more regular white background, and the landing panel featured the fearsome top half of a grinning Charizard like myself, clearly mocking my situation.
Then that must mean… My eyes trail up the table again to the top, seeing that it had a blue mat wrapped around what would otherwise be a sharp corner for little legs to dangle over, and it seemed to feature water types doing various sporty activities that involved water, swimming, rings, or even beach balls. Still first evolutions…
I didn’t have very long to dwell on this fact before the door behind me clicked and I could hear the handle creaking with my heightened nerves and awareness. I turned to face this new threat, my stomach heating up even as my dizziness attempted to make me fall over. But I refused to fall. I could never have gotten where I did if I was so weak. If only that could keep the sudden horrific realization that I’ve missed a detail from shattering my entire world.
For I had assumed all of this was made for giants such as legendaries or the like, but it was a Lucario who walked in. A lucario who was easily three to four times my height! Panic began ripping through me with wild fury as my breathing quickened and my heart pounded in my ears.
“I thought I sensed a little guy stirring up here. Finally returned to the land of the living?”
He begins approaching me without waiting for any kind of response, and like a Deerling caught in headlights, I couldn’t move a single muscle in my body. I was frozen in abject horror.
“Let’s get some food in you, and then you can tell me all about how you’ll crush me like a bug and I’ll explain what’s actually going to happen here once you’re all done.”
He bends down and grabs me under my armpits, and suddenly panic was no longer the thing keeping me frozen. Some kind of energy shot through my muscles at his touch and I began to go limp, easily handled and lifted up onto his hip. As he starts heading for the door he came in through, he pauses to close the closet door, commenting “Oops, must’ve left this open when I was cleaning.” Once the door is closed, I see a mirror it had concealed on its front side, and looking back at me was a wide eyed and panicky Charmander. Me.
I had dark gray scales with a black belly, fuchsia eyes, and a little blue flame dancing upon the end of my tail. I looked just as I remembered myself…20 years ago. When I first came to this world. But maybe smaller… I hoped that was just the diaper on my hips making me think I was smaller than I was, like I did with the cribs earlier.
The journey was short, but felt like a lifetime as he carried me out into a hallway. I didn’t even get the chance to fully examine it, even if I had been fully able to move myself, before he turned and made his way to a baby gate at the top of a horrifyingly steep set of stairs into an abyss. …A well lit, ordinary foyer of an abyss, but definitely still an abyss! Without my faithful wings I had fought for years to obtain, it felt like it could just reach out and swallow me!
I couldn’t really seem to move my mouth the way I wanted to, so I couldn’t even speak if the desire came to me, which it was definitely starting to as this continued! The walls were plain and uninteresting, and I was finding myself less concerned with what this place was than with who it was that’s carrying me right now to what is sure to be my doom! So I stopped paying attention to details and now struggled with everything I had to crane my gaze upward at the Lucario.
He looked ordinary enough, so I had to guess this was some masterful aura control. He seized me through my aura! Such an underhanded trick… Manipulating a part of me I couldn’t even see, let alone hope to defend. It was unfair! …Whoa. Where did that come from? I suddenly got an urge to throw some kind of a tantrum, and even started doing it before I had registered that fact. Would I have actually flailed my limbs around like a toddler if I could move them right now?
And then my world was suddenly moving in a new direction as I returned to being aware of my surroundings, now in some kind of large room with several long, rectangular tables and chairs stacked upside down on top of them. This place smelled like food… In the corner were several plastic high chairs and less intimidating but no less undesirable booster seats stacked up next to them. I was apparently unworthy of even that kind of a device as I was being lowered into a high chair, with blue plastic standing out against its shiny metal bits. A tray was already in place in front of me, and the Lucario was bending down to pull a strap against the front of my- the diaper.
But more importantly, I could move again! “Just where do you get off messing with me like that!”
“Wow, I honestly expected that outburst a little sooner. Maybe I overdid it with the aura control, sorry little guy.”
“I’m not little!” I quickly retorted only to be interrupted, and feeling very upset at the pure audacity that he wouldn’t even listen to me!
“Well maybe you weren’t, but you are now. And that’s far from the only thing that’s going to change now that I’m in charge.”
I began shouting at him, calling him all sorts of names and bad words I probably shouldn’t repeat. Or, well, at least, that’s what I attempted…but something was wrong. It’s like I was…censored. All of my bad words were replaced with different words that somehow still fit the situation but had absolutely no edge to them whatsoever. Like fork, or dang, or even poopyhead. Wait…I can’t even think the words I wanted to say? Now that’s messed up.
Once I was out of breath and got light headed again, he finally stopped just standing there with that stupid fake kind smile of his and spoke back. “Now that that’s out of your system, here’s the rub. You’re not who you were, and if we do our jobs correctly, you won’t be ever again. This is a retraining center, one of many. It’s called Cozy Oaks. And you are our latest patient. Koda, that is your name, right? Or do you prefer Firestorm? It’s no matter. The villain you were isn’t going to leave this place. We hope to mold you back into a model citizen, and teach you how to behave. Properly, this time.”
Villain? Hardly. I’m not really sure why, but my mind stuck on that word. It felt…wrong to me. I wasn’t a villain. I just did what I want. Doesn’t every Pokemon do that? Or is it wrong because I released myself from my pathetic trainer and blazed my own path? I didn’t need him so much as he needed me. Firestorm was the name I chose, it was to be the persona I took up; a storm that no one could ever stop. Wait, did he say retraining? What does that mean? Does it have something to do with why I’m a Charmander now?
“I can see you’re a little confused. That’s fine. You just took a massive first step. But don’t worry, we didn’t mess with your head…aside from erasing some offensive language. Not every Pokemon here is in the program, since we also function as a regular daycare. And even for those that are, it might hurt their progress if new intakes went around cursing everywhere. Not to worry, we won’t mess with anything else in that noggin of yours unless we absolutely have to.”
That doesn’t exactly make me feel better…
“So, let’s start with something small. How much do you remember about how you got landed here?”
Remember? Right, I- urgh… My head still kinda pounds. Why does thinking about that night make it hurt worse? “I was…fighting?” I manage, paw pressed to my forehead and right eye closed. “A bunch of self righteous upstarts declared they were gonna bring me in. That I would answer for my crimes. They wanted to…fix me.”
“Good. The process didn’t jumble up too much then. Don’t worry, the discomfort will pass. What else?”
“...Nothing. I don’t remember being taken out, or who I was even fighting specifically. I just…fought, and then I was here. And all the injuries I sustained were gone.”
“Well of course they are. In a sense, you’ve been rewound. Your life was brought back to the state you now find yourself in. Amazing what some Pokemon and science can do together, right? Too bad this technology has so many drawbacks, or else it’d become ubiquitous as a way to extend one’s life. It kinda still can be used that way, but right now our centers have the only working models. You’ll get familiar with the side effects in time.”
“Why..? Why would you do this to me? I would never ask for all of my power and progress to just be gone. Why would anyone?”
“Oh, you’d be surprised how much a second chance might mean to some. In fact, some Pokemon volunteer for it. I think we have one or two here right now. It helps us refine the machine, and it gives them the second chance at life they’ve always wanted. As for why we’d do this to you… You clearly don’t remember all of what you did, so I guess that’ll have to wait for future therapy sessions. But to put it plainly, you’re dangerous. To others, to yourself. You were a force of nature that’d destroy anything that got in the way of what you wanted. And we- Well, we’re not bad Pokemon, even if it helps you to think that we are. We only want what’s best for the world, and for you, so we’re helping you try again so that maybe you grow up into someone who isn’t so…evil. If you’ll excuse my language. And that starts with taking you back to what you are now. The process is a little bit finicky and doesn’t always land on exactly the same age, but I’d guess from your aura that you might be two. Four at the absolute oldest. But all of your capabilities will definitely be on the younger end. That’d be one of those side effects. Basically, no matter what physical age you landed on, you’re as weak as a two year old, and about as potty trained. Possibly less. And the muscle memories you had, like using your moves or holding your bathroom needs…those are probably gone now. Even the knowledge is probably gone, too. But you’re welcome to try if you think you can grow out of your current underwear quickly.”
That was…certainly a whole lot to take in. I probably sat there for several minutes just thinking about what all of that meant. I had a ton of questions, obviously, but between my headache and now the growling of my stomach, maybe I should limit it to a few. After all, every word this Lucario said made me hate him, for obvious reasons. So I’m going to probably want to figure most of it out on my own, but first…
“You said this is some kind of program? How long is it going to last?” I ask him, focusing on the most important part of this whole thing.
“Well, that all depends on you. When you graduate from here depends on if you can learn to be a good little Charmander or not, and how long that takes you is simply how long it takes. But I know what you’re actually worried about, and yes. This is, in a sense, permanent. You aren’t going to magically become your big and strong self again. That version of you is gone. You have to grow up the long way.”
That struck me right down to my core. This wasn’t going to wear off? They actually just expect me to…to be a baby?That’s insane!
“Now, I’m sure you probably wanna curse at me again, but I’d rather you eat something before your food finally gets cold. It’s been waiting for you ever since I felt you wake up. I had to leave it on the warmer for a little while I waited, but I took it off and left it to the side when I went to get you.”
He starts to walk off to my side, forcing me to strain my neck to keep him in my vision as he goes to some cabinets over by a sink. That’s where he gets out a plate of small brown shapes and brings it over, setting it down in front of me. They were…Poke nuggets.
This world, kinda like my old one, does have normal animals living all over it. But the wilds are overflowing with magical monsters this world calls Pokemon. The two groups live in a sort of semi-harmony, but Pokemon have special laws that protect them and their rights as sentient creatures, though battling and catching them was still fair game within reasonable limits. Animals, however, they’re just like back home. Nonsentient beasts often hunted or farmed for food and other things. There actually seems to be less laws protecting them than on my world, but not by much. Namely, poaching seems to only be a crime against ordinary Pokemon. Maybe because something about the natural environment of this world boosts the normal animal populations by a lot. I’ve never heard of any endangered animals since I got here, only endangered Pokemon.
So these chicken nuggets, they’re shaped like different Pokemon. A food little kids often eat as it helps them learn about the different kinds of species around. I was 12 when I first got to this world, so I’m only a little embarrassed to admit this used to be my favorite. I never did really solve how I got here, I was too wrapped up in other things, but I always thought my body might not have been created fresh for me. But what that means? I don’t really know. Except apparently it means I can be turned into a baby… Never thought I’d have to worry about that kind of thing.
I wanted to scoff and say I’d never eat such childish food, but my stomach growled again and it ached like it had never tasted food in its entire life. Maybe it hadn’t! So, reluctantly, I started eating, and he went off to retrieve a sippy cup of some yellow liquid. The cup was this translucent dark blue on the cap and around the bottom, but between them it had colorful depictions of deep sea fish Pokemon swimming around. They looked almost like stickers with how they had those thick outlines and shiny look to them. …Is it weird that I expected him to give me a bottle of milk?
The chicken was pretty plain, maybe so I wouldn’t get overwhelmed or anything. Maybe that’s why I have a headache in the first place. Whatever had been done to me was a huge shock to my system and I needed time to get used to it. Maybe it could still be undone if I show them how wrong they are about me… Maybe he only meant that it would be permanent unless he did something to fix it! …The sippy cup just contained apple juice.
Compared to everything else I was concerned about, that almost felt like a letdown. Like here I am contemplating my entire existence and what I’m supposed to be on this world, and I’m eating plain Poke nuggets and drinking apple juice from a sippy cup. Didn’t even wanna think about how normal that felt. Wait, didn’t he say there would be others?
I looked up to him to ask about that, and he had apparently grabbed a chair and was now sitting backwards on it with his head resting on top between his two spikes while I had just been lost in my own little world. “There are others here?”
“Yes. And they all stay in blocks. No, don’t look at me like that, we’re not a prison. Preventing you from leaving is honestly for your own safety, not everyone else’s. You’ll see. But anyway, we like to give everyone a day or two to acclimate before introducing them to the rest. That’s daycare time, when you leave your block and go to the really big room in the center of the complex. Right next to the playground! I bet you’ll have most of your fun out there, since you prided your strength so much. It’ll be cute seeing you trying to get it back as fast as physically possible.”
Wh- He doesn’t know that’s what I plan to do! How dare he just assume like that! …M-maybe I just won’t do it now.
“On the docket today, you’ve got basically the whole day to do what you want, but of course no going to the daycare or the playground. And no doing anything a baby wouldn’t do. You will need to ask me for anything it is that you want, or anywhere that you need to go. But don’t worry about your diaper. I’ll get you changed out of that soggy thing and into a fresh, daytime one before you do anything else today. And tomorrow-”
I had just kinda started tuning him out at that point as I got struck by yet another horror. …Soggy?! Just how did that happen?! And how hadn’t I noticed sooner? I wiggle my legs some, while he grins at me out of the very top of my vision where everything was all fuzzy and unfocused, and yet somehow I just felt him teasing me with his eyes.
The diaper feels a bit stiff in the middle. Like…thicker than it did in other places, such as more near the top. This thickness extends all the way between my legs and nearly around my tail. And the way it squiiiiished with my movement. How had I not noticed? When did it even happen? Can I truly not feel it- No. No, that can’t be it. I had to have just gone during whatever they did to me while I was asleep. Surely that must’ve been traumatic, so that has to be it. I will accept nothing else.
“Oh. And the name’s Auran, by the way. I’m the grownup in charge of you. Makes me a kind of guardian, sort of. Each of us have a whole block to ourselves, which usually makes three or four babies. Often less, since we try to spread it out, so it depends on how many attendees we have in the program. The daycare kids don’t actually live here like you do. But if we’re overbooked, which hasn’t ever happened but never say never, we can get up to six or eight babies. I can’t even imagine how exhausting that must be! Right now, I’ve only got you. Lucky you, right? Now finish up your nuggies. I know you’re not full.”
Yea. Lucky me. He isn’t the one sitting in his own pee right now! …I can’t believe I didn’t even notice.
