Nick was your everyday Pokemon trainer. Well, perhaps a bit older than most beginners, seeing he was 22 years old, but other than that, he had nothing extraordinary to show. His Pokemon team consisted of 4 members, all not quite rare or well trained, and he only had 1 Badge. Yet, he wasn’t much concerned. He didn’t have some sort of impossible goal, like “catching them all” or “being the very best like no one ever was”. For him, it was just a hobby, Pokemon training. Quite recently, he even got a part time job as a postman, and he would have to transfer letters and parcels from one town to the other. The post office was quite understaffed these days, and parcels seemed to be slow to transfer, so the office wasn’t too picky. Yet, there was a big problem. Nick didn’t have a bicycle. Now, for some inexplicable reason, while other, more advanced services were relatively cheap, bicycles cost a real fortune. And as one might have guessed, Nick wasn’t exactly rich.

Yet, for once, fortune seemed to smile at Nick. Walking around Cerulean City, he passed by a poster on a wall. It stated that soon, some experiments would be carried out at Bill’s, a famous scientists’, lab, and that all those who participated would be awarded with a voucher that would allow them to get a bicycle for free. Of course, Nick wouldn’t miss that chance, so the next day, he was at the lab, at the waiting room. For some reason, a quick look around showed he was the only person there at the moment, but he felt relieved, as this meant he wouldn’t have to wait long.

Soon, Bill, the scientist leading the research got out from the lab room, and walked up to Nick.

‘Greetings!’ Bill smiled, checking the file he was holding. ‘I take it you are Nick, correct? Thank you for helping us with this project.’ Bill offered his hand for a handshake, and Nick shook it a bit unsurely. ‘Come come!’ Bill exclaimed ‘we will be done very quickly, it’s quite a quick procedure, as the experiment is at its final stage!’ Bill then started walking, with Nick following, and explaining what the experiment was about. Unfortunately, he was using too much scientific terminology, and Nick didn’t understand anything, nor did he have the attention span to focus.

Finally, they reached a room, moderately lit. Before them, there were many screens and buttons, but what was most unusual, was that there were 2 transparent capsules, each one a bit bigger than a human. At one of them, there was a Ratatta, a very small, mouse-like Pokemon. Bill smiled at Nick, and asked him to enter the other capsule. Nick looked a bit worried, but then obliged and stepped in.

Bill then proceeded to press some buttons, causing the capsules’ doors to shut and the lights in the lab to fade a bit. Then, after some more adjustments, he seemed satisfied. At that point though, his cell phone rang. He nodded at Nick, making a gesture showing that it would only take a moment, then left the room. Nick waited patiently, getting a bit more nervous, but had no other choice. He tried to focus on the bicycle he would get by the end of the day, and how fun it would be to ride it.

And then, everything went wrong.

Another Rattata, from perhaps a different lab room entered the room slowly, looking around, without Nick, or anyone else noticing. It sniffed around, then hopped on the keyboard and started walking around, pressing buttons randomly. Nick heard a low booming sound, as if some massive systems were coming alive, and looked around worriedly, but then, the capsule was lit by a purple light, and he soon felt a tingling and cold sensation running through his body. He could see everything around him becoming bigger, but in fact, he was becoming smaller at an alarming rate. If one could look at both capsules, they would see the inches taken from Nick and given to the Rattata in the other capsule, that started growing. At the end of the process, Nick’s capsule’s door opened, and he found himself being only 4 inches tall, and his clothes shrunken along with him. Boy was he panicked. He ran out of the capsule, trying to find someone, anyone, getting dizzy from everything looking so big. It was a bad decision.

The Rattata that pressed the buttons sniffed him, hopped off the keyboard and landed behind him. Nick was astonished, and then afraid, never having thought he would ever come to consider a Rattata dangerous. But as the Rattata rattled its teeth, Nick knew this was his cue to start running like hell. He ran out of the lab room, to the waiting room, but he saw no one to ask for help. Not wanting to ran to a dead end while pursued by the mouse-like creature that was now his size, and not knowing the building’s layout, he did the only logical thing he could think of at that time. He left the building and ran out to the path of the city.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nicole was a young and promising Pokemon trainer. At her 16 years, she had already gathered a team of 5 and had defeated two Gym Leaders without much trouble. She made sure to train her Pokemon hard, for many hours each day and not allowing them to slack off, but she also loved them and took good care of them. Kind and cheerful, yet stubborn and not taking no for an answer, Nicole’s future as a Pokemon trainer seemed bright.

While she was in her way to leave Cerulean Town, she heard a rustling sound from the tall grass nearby. Knowing very well what this meant, she quickly threw a Pokeball, without waiting to see what it was. It was in her energetic and straightforward nature, to often act without thinking.

Nick, having escaped from the Rattata and trying to walk back to the lab, very afraid for what would happen to him, suddenly felt something hit him and send him flying away. But then, a very unusual sensation, as, instead of landing somewhere, he felt dizzy, and found himself in a red lit, circular room. He saw a countdown over his head, on the red, transparent dome. “3…2….1” Nick panicked and started pushing the walls of the room, but then, with a small sound, the countdown disappeared, and he heard a low, locking sound.

The next thing Nick felt was vibrations, and then heard the steps, getting closer. And then, he saw her, the teenage girl towering over him, with a curious expression. He realized what happened and started shouting and hitting the insides of the Pokeball, but of course, the ball didn’t move anymore, nor would any sound be heard from outside. As the girl knelt down, the image of her gigantic palm, reaching to take hold of her Pokeball obscured his view and inspired him with a deep, instinctual fear, as he had absolutely no control over the situation and as if he would be grabbed himself. As the soft skin of the girl’s palm made contact with the red, transparent walls of the Pokeball’s roof, causing the insides to get dark, and feeling a rush as the girl abruptly lifted the Pokeball, Nick finally, overwhelmed by all the events that happened only within one hour, passed out.