When Irene Robertson woke up, she was very confused.

  She had just finished working and was taking a long bus ride home. Irene was working nearly 80 hours a week, so she was quite tired, and decided to take a quick nap.

  Instead of being greeted by her phone’s alarm, Irene woke up to see a bright yellow sun in the sky.

  ‘Did I oversleep and miss my stop again?’ she thought. ‘Wait. Something isn’t right. Why am I outside? Why does it feel like I’m lying on grass?’

  Irene tried to move her arms and push herself up, but she was immediately assaulted with a wave of nausea, and she also felt a sense of disconnectedness between her mind and body. It was like her arms and legs were too short, and it seemed like her right arm didn’t want to move at all.

  Instead, Irene laid back down and observed herself and her surroundings.

  She saw that she was lying in a field of grass, though the color of the grass was rather strange. It was bluer than what she was used to, and it also seemed more vibrant. In fact, the entire world seemed more for some reason. The air felt fresher, the colors brighter, and everything seemed to be full of energy. Everything, from the grass to the trees to the sun, just felt alive.

  ‘This isn’t Earth’, Irene thought as she went on to inspect her own body.

  The first thing she realized was the large puncture wound on her right shoulder that had turned black. There also seemed to be some venom injected into her body. Irene still felt functional mentally, which she attributed to adrenaline and the shock from the pain.

  ‘That won’t last forever. I’m going to need to find treatment quickly.’ she thought.

  Irene quickly inspected the rest of her body. She seems to have somehow ended up in the body of a young human girl, probably around 10 years old. It was definitely not herself at 10 years old though. The girl’s body was rather thin, and Irene remembered being shorter than 150cm when she was 10.

  ‘Ok stay calm’ she thought to herself, ‘Your first goal is to survive, and we can worry about the weird stuff later.’

  ‘Since I seem to be in the wild, I shouldn’t make any loud noises, as whatever caused this wound could still be out there, so I shouldn’t try to draw any attention to myself.’

  Irene tried pushing herself up with her good arm, but her entire body felt off balance, and she failed to make any meaningful progress.

  After flailing around for some time, something clicked in her brain and it seemed like her balanced was restored, like she finally remembered how to walk again, so she immediately stood up and took a better view of her surroundings.

  She was in some sort of grassy plain. The grass was quite tall, though weirdly uniform. There was a forest of trees to her left and on her right there seemed to be a line of flattened grass that resembled a crudely made path.

  Irene also saw a giant purple rat staring at her.

  ‘Isn’t that a Rattata, a Pokemon?’ Irene thought. ‘Ok, I’m definitely not on Earth. Since there’s Pokemon, there must be supernatural healing too. Yeah, miraculous healing definitely existed in the anime. Finding civilization should be my top priority.’

  ‘Road means civilization.’ Irene thought as she began running towards the road. She stumbled a bit but was ultimately able to maintain her balance.

  After reaching the road, Irene, turned in the direction opposite from the forest and began running.

  While running, Irene saw a few more Pokemon, ranging from Pidgeys to Nidorinos, though they mostly seemed content to leave her alone. She had no idea how long she was running for until she saw a young boy in the corner of her eye. The boy also had a Spearow that he seemed to be talking to. Irene immediately swerved and began running toward the boy.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  ‘Oh my gosh! There’s a huge bite wound on your right shoulder!’ the boy cried.

  ‘Yes I know! Can you call for medical help?’ Irene shouted back.

  The boy nodded and pulled out a device which Irene assumed to be a Pokedex. However, before Irene could say anything, her body decided that conscious was no longer necessary, and she passed out.

  Irene woke up in a bed, and quickly realized that her arm was as good as new, other than being a little sore. For a few seconds, she marveled at the medical prowess of this world, before she remembered that she was now in a world of Pokemon who have magical abilities, and there are probably far more fantastical things. That was still quite hard for her to believe.

  ‘Ok, lets recap’ Irene thought.

  ‘I have been transmigrated to some world containing Pokemon, and these Pokemon definitely have some level of magical powers.’

  ‘Magic explains how I got here, at least theoretically, though that doesn’t explain why I’m here. Did I get summoned like those isekai stories? Do I have some grand mission to accomplish, or is this just some freak accident?’

  ‘Is any of this real at all? Am I just hallucinating?’

  ‘It also seems like this world uses English for some reason, which is suspiciously convenient. That boy seemed to understand me when I spoke English, and he had a typical American accent as well.’

  ‘I’m also somehow in the body of a random young girl, which is even more confusing. Did I somehow kill the girl by taking over her body? That’s a bit disturbing to think about. What happens if I meet her parents or friends and I have no idea who they are?’

  ‘There must be some level of human civilization as well, since this hospital exists, so some sort of police or authority also probably exists. That means I’ll probably have to fake some level of memory loss, or I might get thrown into therapy or some mental institution for not having common sense.’

  ‘I was rescued by some kid who seemed to be a Pokemon trainer, which I suppose matches up with the Pokemon franchises back on Earth. I remember Ash started his journey at the age of 11.’

  ‘Why didn’t I have any Pokemon then? Was this girl even a Pokemon trainer? Why was she out in the wild?’

  ‘She clearly was dying, so perhaps I hijacked this body after she died? Maybe she replaced my body too then. That would imply I died back on Earth. Did my bus crash? Could I even go back then?’

  ‘Speaking of which, what do I want to do now? Do I even want to go back to Earth? I obviously don’t know enough now to decide, so let’s just focus on short term survival.’

  ‘I’m going to have to fake some level of memory loss, and just hope that the people here accept that. Since Pokemon exist, there must be psychic types that can read minds. I should avoid that as much as possible. If they find out I have the knowledge of another world, I’ll probably just be questioned all day and milked for all my knowledge. Revealing my knowledge should only be a last resort. Let’s hope they have some regulations on mind reading. It seems like a major invasion of privacy.’

  As Irene continued to ponder her circumstances while pretending to still be asleep, a man who looked like a doctor walked into her room.

  Irene pretended to be mildly startled by the noise, and slowly got up while rubbing her eyes.

  “Where am I” she asked tiredly.

  “You’re in the Mauville city hospital. How’s your arm feeling.”

  “Fine I guess, It’s still a bit sore”

  The man waited until Irene sat up completely and handed her a glass of water.

  “That was some serious Arbok poisoning in your arm. It’s a miracle you survived at all. Next time don’t veer off the ranger patrolled routes, especially without your own Pokemon. Also, I know I’m not the first one to tell you this, but you really should become a Pokemon trainer. There’re not many jobs you can do without Pokemon experience, and you really don’t want to be drafted by the league. Now that you’re indebted to the league, you realistically don’t have much of a choice, you need to go become a league sponsored trainer. Those Blissey eggs are expensive you know.”

  Irene took a sip of her water. “Wait, how do I become a league sponsored trainer?”

  The man frowned. “How do you not know this? Go to the Pokemon center tomorrow and they’ll sort you out.”

  “Umm… Ok? I think I may have some sort of memory loss though.”

  The man frowned again, then began scratching his chin. “Treatment for memory loss is possible, but very expensive. Unlike the healing for your arm, memory loss treatment can’t be done through debt. Sorry, but that’s the way the league works nowadays. I’ll get you a book and see if that helps refresh your memory.”

  The man promptly left the room and returned a few minutes later with a thick book.

  “Sorry, we don’t have anything more interesting, but this book will probably contain all the information you need to know. Wait, are you even able read?”

  Irene looked at the book and was relieved to find that the cover was written in English. She nodded.

  “Good, that makes life much easier. I also printed the information we have on you in the public records, just in case you forgot that. Look, I must get to the other patients. There’s food in the cafeteria. I’ll check up on your arm again tomorrow, and you should be cleared to go after that”

  The man then immediately turned around and left the room.

  ‘Well, this hospital seems incredibly understaffed.’ Irene thought.

  ‘It’s quite strange that he didn’t seem to care about my memory loss at all, I thought I would get extensively questioned. Maybe this would be easier than I thought.’