I decided to try the impossible: Write a dark and tragic Pokemon story. That's a bit difficult, given that when I hear "Pokemon", I think fluffy bunnies, but hell, I'm trying anyway.

This is Leon, one of the protagonists in the story. Suffering from amnesia, he remembers nothing from his life before he was found on the outskirts of a tiny village named Akyll.
Because Leon is always spending time alone with books as his only company, other teens his age consider him weird, and there are many rumors of his hazy past buzzing about. Leon doesn't seem to care, however, as he rarely expresses emotions other than passivity and confusion. He dislikes sudden change, noises and everything inbetween, and being in a big crowd makes him panic, though he's usually calm.
He doesn't remember his real name or birthday, so he considers the day he was found by the villagers the day he started a new life.

So, what the heck does this have to do with Pokemon, you ask?

Let's face it, Pokemon is more like dog fighting than anything else. You forcibly capture a creature and keep it inside an object the size of a tennis ball, never mind that it can get hungry or thirsty (for some reason, Pokemon never seem to shit. Where they fit into basic biology, I don't know. Maybe they're secretly doing their daily business when their trainers aren't looking) or how cramped it must be in there. Also, the battles. They are forced to battle each other and get poisoned, paralyzed, burnt, frozen and scratched to the point where they faint of exhaustion, but hey, THE TRAINER IS A MASTER! ALL GLORY TO THE TRAINER who just... well... stood there like a spoiled little shit, doing absolutely nothing.


Tell me there's nothing wrong in that.


Alas, in Leon's world it functions differently. There exist no Pokeballs or Gyms here. In order to get a Pokemon as a partner, you have to make a pact with it. A pact is made by fusing the soul of the human and the Pokemon together as one, and they then get some sort of emotional bond. When making a pact you must give something dear to you up as payment to the pact - something to fuse the souls together. This something must be of great personal importance; otherwise the pact won't work.

Once paid, the price cannot be returned, and your soul is completely naked (hypothetically speaking, people - get your heads out of the gutter); you cannot hide anything from the Pokemon you made the pact with, it can access your deepest secrets and memories. In other words, making a pact means giving up your personal space - in every sense of the word. If you feel fear, the Pokemon will also feel fear, just as if it feels happy, you will feel happy. Bonding with a Pokemon gives you abilities depending on what Pokemon you bond with.

There's also impossible to forcibly make a pact. Both souls must agree and be willing to accept the bonding.


Now THAT would be something. Imagine sending your Pokemon out in battle, only to experience the same pain both physically and mentally as it does. Burnt? Whoops, you get burnt too. Frozen? Whee, cold. Poisoned? Get yourself to the hospital right now.

I'm going to have a lot of fun with this.


EDIT
I'm such an ass; I managed to screw up his head.
IT SHALL BE FIXED. BECAUSE I SAY SO.