My body ached and I let out a groan. My entire body was sore as if I had just ran a marathon with no breaks. Every little movement and even the tiniest flex of muscle caused me to shiver. I was barely able to angle my head away from the ground I was resting on. I only had enough energy to open my eyes.

The lumpy material under me shifted as I moved my head. It was dark and plastic, and was filled with both hard and soft objects. I was no longer on my mattress in my apartment, that was for sure. The breeze that blew over my body confirmed that.

Not to mention the stench.

With a great deal of effort, I looked around at the unfamiliar environment. From my terribly uncomfortable position, I realized that I had no clue where I was. In fact, I was no longer anywhere near my house at all. After all, I didn’t normally live on a garbage bag set next to an alley dumpster.

I somehow managed to push myself up into a seated position, still using the garbage bag as support. My hand pressed down onto a sticky liquid that leaked from the bag and I had to suppress a shudder.

As I absorbed information about my environment, I quickly came to the conclusion that I was no longer in my own city, or even my own dimension. The alley, despite the garbage bag I currently laid on, was surprisingly clean. The only garbage here was the aforementioned bag I sat on and the dumpster next to me. There was no familiar graffiti on the walls, and the ground was paved and smooth, creating a pathway between two buildings rather than a small gap formed due to urban sprawl. However, the surprisingly clean alley I was in was not what caught my attention. Rather, it was the moving garbage bag in front of me.

It walked on two dark flaps that made up its feet, and the top of the bag was tied in such a way that the ends of the bag looked like a pair of long ears. It had a pair of bright white eyes set into the black plastic garbage bag of its body and it stared up at me in curiosity.

“Trubbish?”

If there was any way to be introduced in the Pokémon world, I would not choose a staring contest with a pile of garbage.

Trubbish, the trash bag Pokémon, extended an arm of rotten and compressed garbage out of a tear from its side.

“Trub. Trub.” It closed its eyes and nodded as it rubbed its nasty garbage arm on my leg, dirtying my pants and trying its best to comfort me.

Normally I would have liked to tell it to stop, or more realistically, scream in fright, but I didn't. I was dead tired and just sitting up took most of my energy. Second, despite it being a living pile of trash, it was trying to be nice and that just felt rude. I wasn’t the type of person to scream at someone else just because they did something I didn’t like. I wasn’t my mother.

I was about to lean back and contemplate the status of my current existence when I heard a door open near me. Slowly turning my head, I saw the edge of an open door that was previously obscured by the position of the dumpster. The Trubbish turned away from me and smiled, opening its mouth to reveal a surprisingly sharp set of plastic teeth.

“Trubbish! Trubb trubb trubbish trubb!” The little garbage bag spoke in an excited voice and waddled over to where the door opened. When it reached its target around the dumpster, a man’s voice echoed out.

“Oh! Trubbish, you’re back! Here to help out with the garbage again?”

“Trubbish!” The little Pokémon shouted excitedly. There was a pause before the Pokémon spoke up again.

“Trubbish! Bish Bish!” This time, the little Pokémon spoke with a sense of urgency in its voice. I blinked when I somehow understood the intense emotion in its voice despite it only speaking in variations of a single word.

“Hmm? What’s wrong? You want to lead me somewhere?” The voice replied, curious about Trubbish’s pleas. I heard the “fwip-fwop” sounds of Trubbish’s flaps walking back to my position as well as the sounds of the man’s footsteps getting closer. When Trubbish reached me, it poked trash out of its bag once more and pointed at me, waving wildly with its other arm and shouting its own name hurriedly.

A young man of Japanese descent emerged from around the dumpster that had hidden me from view. He had short brown combed hair and wore a white collared shirt with a simple pair of khakis. A bright blue apron with a white Pokéball design in its center hung around his neck. As he looked down at me, I pushed my head upwards to meet his eyes. I tried to nod in acknowledgement. I might have been laying in the garbage, but it wouldn’t hurt to try to make a good first impression.

“Hello.” I barely managed to croak out.

“Uh, hi! Is there a reason you’re sleeping in the garbage?”

“Could answer... can’t” I barely pushed the words out from my mouth, making my words sound like a wheeze rather than a language. The man frowned. He leaned forward and pulled me up, sending a brief wave of pain through my body. He was kind enough to put my arm around his shoulder for support.

“Come on, let’s get you inside. You won’t feel any better out here.” He walked me to the door before he stopped and looked over at Trubbish. “Thank you little guy. Help yourself to the garbage like usual.”

With a screech that sounded much too close to a velociraptor from a certain dinosaur themed movie, Trubbish jumped up and started ravenously tearing into the garbage bag that was once my bed. Feeling nauseous, I closed my eyes and the man led me inside of whatever this building was.

The room I was led into was some weird combination of a storage room and an employee lounge. There was a small seating area that consisted of an old couch and a plastic lawn chair situated around a small wooden table. The table had a closed, charging laptop with a Pokéball icon rather than the classic corporate logo on its top. Against the wall of the room was a counter with a microwave and a sink, as well as a minifridge next to it. One side of the room was open and exposed to a warehouse-like space with long shelves filled to the brim of various goods. What caught my eye were the Pokéballs and medicinal spray bottles that lined the shelves.

Pokéballs... Potions... If Trubbish didn’t already confirm it, this does. I really am in the Pokémon world.

The shelves and the man’s outfit made me realize I was inside a Pokémart. We walked through a door next to the counter which led to a small bathroom, complete with a surprisingly large shower. I looked at the man supporting me and raised an eyebrow.

He coughed into his free hand and looked away from me. “Oh, haha. Yeah, the shower. Kind of unusual right? Well, it got installed after a customer’s Muk went wild in the shop. It’s mostly for emergencies but I’d say your situation warrants it.”

He put me in the shower where I promptly collapsed on the floor. He helped me arrange myself in a more comfortable seated position and roughly checked my pockets with my permission before he turned the water on. Unfortunately I had no ID, no wallet, and no magic cellphone with a Pokédex app on it or anything like that. Seems that whatever put me into this world left me with just the clothes on my back.

The man turned on the water while I sat there and let my clothes get soaked. I didn’t mind and he could tell.

“Just clean yourself up the best you can. I’ll bring in a spare set of clothes from the lost and found so don’t worry about needing to walk around wet. If you need anything just shout my name - Marty, by the way.”

“Thank you... Alex...”

“It’s nice to meet you, Alex. I have to get back to work, but it’s a slow day today so don’t worry about bothering me for anything. I hope the shower makes you feel better.”

I leaned back and closed my eyes as he left the room. As the lukewarm water ran over my body I relaxed and started to think. Despite my sluggish body, my mind still worked quickly.

I’m in the Pokémon world, that’s for sure, but I’m not sure where I am. I would guess I was in Unova due to the Trubbish, but that’s not definite. The games had a pretty limited selection for Pokémon in each Route and City, but the anime definitely showed Pokémon present that weren’t normally available in Regions. It would be nice to see what form of media this reality is closest to, but if it turns out to be the manga I would have little knowledge to go off from. I never read the manga, but wasn’t there a panel of an Arbok being sliced apart? I really hope this world isn’t that brutal.

No matter what media this world is closest to, it honestly doesn’t matter. I’m here now and I need to figure out how to survive. While it’s never happened to me before, this isn’t anything completely new. I’ve read my share of isekai and transmigration stories, so I have the gist of what happened. The question is, do I want to go back to my world?

...

Honestly, no. My mom was more than happy enough when she kicked me out when I was 18 and I never met my dad. I don’t - didn’t - have friends, only acquaintances. I have no job to go back to, I was fired last week. There’s nothing there for me. If anything, the Pokémon world is far better for me than anything I could do back there.

If I don’t want to lose my mind, I need a goal. That’s easy. Become a Pokémon trainer. Basic, but I have no clue how to do that. I have no ID or anything that could be used as identification, plus I’ve never taken care of animals outside of the cat my mom had when I was a kid.

Well, now’s the time as ever to learn. Don’t say I wasn’t motivated.

I pushed to my feet, but could barely stand up. My body had relaxed but the aches were still present. I felt terrible, but I could at least move. I turned off the water and walked over to the sink and mirror. I looked into the glass and saw a familiar sight - short-ish brown hair, dull blue eyes, and the top of my now soaked and disheveled dark-colored jacket.

Looks like I’m still 22 years old. No Pokémon magic making me a kid again.

I looked over to see that Marty had left a towel and set of clothes on the counter. I struggled and fought my way out of the wet clothes that stuck to my skin and put on the outfit left for me.

It was a simple set of jeans and a Pokéball-themed red jacket. He had left out no underwear, but I was fine going without rather than wearing a left-behind set from a stranger. The jacket was rough and itchy and the pants were too short, but it was an outfit not stained by garbage and drenched in water I could wear. It was good enough for me.

I left the bathroom and walked over to the couch in the lounge area. Water still dripped from my hair since I didn’t have the energy to completely dry off, but I dropped on the couch regardless of the puddle I was leaving. Swinging up my legs, I didn’t even think of calling Marty over before I closed my eyes and sleep took me.

I awoke to the smell of familiar spices as Marty plopped onto the lawn chair next to the couch. He held a bowl of instant ramen in his hands. He had already started to eat before he realized I was awake.

“Glad to see you’re up.” He swallowed the bite he was chewing. “There’s a cup of ramen for you on the table if you’re hungry. You feeling any better?”

Surprisingly, I did. Despite feeling like death earlier, most of the aches and pains were gone and replaced with a set of more tolerable minor aches and pains. I nodded at him and sat up, finally having enough energy to move my body properly. I reached forward and grabbed the instant ramen on the table and began to eat my meal while Marty continued his. To my surprise, the instant ramen tasted just like the same instant ramen from home. I was in the world for only a few hours and I already felt nostalgic. We spent a bit eating in silence until I finished. Marty completed his dish before I did.

“So, mind explaining why I found you looking like Dusknoir warmed over sitting in a pile of garbage?” Marty asked, finally getting to the question of the day.

“I could try but you probably wouldn’t believe me.”

“Go ahead, give it a shot.”

“Well, I woke up there.”

“And?”

“That’s it. I don’t remember anything else. One moment I was in my room, the next moment I was in a pile of garbage.”

Marty frowned and leaned back in his chair. He closed his eyes and rubbed his chin before opening them once more.

“Alright, I believe you. It's rare but possible to wake up outside your home like that, especially if you have a Psychic or Ghost Pokémon living nearby. Could you make your way back home if I helped you?”

I shrugged, “That’s the thing, I’m not sure I could.”

“What do you mean?”

I sighed and took a moment to prepare the excuse I would need to live with while I was here. Eventually, I explained my story, using the excuse I decided on.

I told Marty I lived in an apartment near a convenience store that I worked at before getting fired. I wasn’t in contact with my family and had no close friends. He frowned when I told him.

My excuse, It wasn’t a long story, but it was essentially the truth. Everything I said was true for when I was back in my old world. Of course, I didn’t say I was from another world. When he asked about more details such as what city and region I was from, I simply responded with “I couldn’t tell you that,” which was my way of continuing to tell the truth without lying. If Marty thought I had missing memories, I wasn’t going to correct his assumption.

Once I was done, Marty took a bit to process my situation before responding.

“Well you’re definitely Unovan, I can tell from your accent. As for where you’re from, the details are too vague for me to help you. There’s too many cities that fit the description you gave. Once my shift is over, I’ll take you to the Pokémon center to report the possibility of a memory-modifying Pokémon nearby. They’ll get you set up and check you over to see if there’s any long lasting consequences of whatever happened to you.”

I didn’t want to go to the Pokémon Center, as I didn’t want to risk getting caught up with the government if they found a flaw in my story. I didn’t want to risk getting experimented on due to my dimension-hopping, nor did I want to be interrogated for my otherworldly knowledge. I’ve read enough fiction to know revealing my history was a bad idea.

“Actually, I’m pretty sure the memory modifying Pokémon isn’t in the city. There’s nothing to report and I already feel a lot better,” I hurriedly replied.

Marty frowned once more and looked me in the eyes. I tried my best to meet them, but I didn't keep it up and looked away pretty quickly. He sighed before speaking again.

“I can’t say I’m happy with that, but it's your decision. Do you have a place to stay?”

I shook my head no.

“Since I found you, I’ll take care of you. Stick around here for now, I’ll take you to my apartment after work. For now, just rest up. Hopefully you’ll feel better soon.”

I perked up at that. That would solve my immediate problem of not having any money for food and shelter. “Really? You would be that nice to a total stranger?”

Marty smiled and looked at me. “You seem pleasant enough. Besides, I don’t have any Pokémon so it gets lonely at home.”

After thanking him profusely, Marty returned to work. I glanced at his laptop curiously as I considered looking up information about the world. I had permission to use it, and I was definitely interested to see if they had the internet here. For now, I took the time to rest up and found myself drifting to sleep again. It seemed like whatever was wrong with my body needed a bit more time to heal.

Marty’s work day ended late in the night. The moon was already in the sky when he locked up the Pokémart. We left as soon as we could, Marty citing that it was best to avoid any stray Dark Types.

It wasn’t a long walk from the Pokémart to get to Marty’s apartment. It was located in a long, squat, three-story building that didn’t have an elevator. When I asked Marty about the lack of an elevator he explained that people who wanted the convenience usually lived in a more expensive part of town, or used a Psychic or Flying type Pokémon to get them to the upper floors quickly.

The interior of his apartment was pretty basic as well. It consisted of one large open room, a bathroom, and his bedroom. He was kind enough to prepare food for me and we spoke over dinner.

“Based on your appetite, I can tell you’re feeling better.”

I nodded vigorously as I chewed on my second plate of food and tried not to think about where the meat came from. He continued to speak while I had my mouth full.

“So, any thoughts on what you’re doing next? You have no money and no Pokémon, so there’s not a lot of options you have available.”

I swallow my bite and pause to think.

“Well, I want to be a Pokémon trainer, so I guess I have to research and figure out what gaps I have in my memory to do that.”

Marty paused to think about what I said. “That’s a big decision to make so suddenly. Any reason why you want to be a Pokémon trainer so quickly after your experience?”

My experience? What does he mean? Oh, he thinks I was kidnapped and had my memories messed with. Which is... true, actually.

“Well, if I had a Pokémon I would imagine that I would be much safer with it than without it? Plus, they’re cool, and with a blank slate I might as well start over to try something new.”

Marty chuckled to my response. “Well, as good a reason as any, I suppose. But you don’t have any money, do you? Taking care of Pokémon is expensive, especially for new trainers.”

I had thought of that, but I didn’t have many answers to that. I had done some research on Marty’s laptop after I woke up, and the options weren’t great. The easy solution would be to get a job, but that would probably require proper identification or proof of address which I don’t have. There were other ways to earn money, but most of them were either extremely dangerous or required a Pokémon partner to do so.

I shook my head no. It was obvious I wasn’t in a good financial situation.

Marty's lips parted into a massive and unexpected grin. “Well then, do I have just the solution for you. What do you think about working in the Pokémart with me?”

“What? You just met me! Can you really hire me just like that?” I exclaimed.

“I don’t see why not. I might not own the place, but I’m the only person who works there. If I said that we had a new hire, there’s no one around who can stop me.”

I stopped to consider it as he continued explaining.

“You’ve already stated you have experience working at a convenience store, and the job is the perfect way to get you registered with The Pokémon League. The League technically owns all Pokémarts, so hiring you would let you submit applications for your identity without raising any questions about your origin. Plus, those reasons don’t even include all the ways that hiring you would benefit me.”

“I’m sorry, you hiring me benefits you? I guess you would have less work to do, but what else is there?”

Marty’s smile faltered for a bit and there’s a brief pause before he speaks again.

“Well, you know Trubbish, right? There’s not many of his species around in Olivine, so he probably got here by stowing away on one of the ships at port. When there’s too many Trubbish and other pollution Pokémon around, Jasmine rounds them up with her Steel Type Pokémon and brings them to the local dump to live there instead. It’s selfish of me, but I want to care for Trubbish myself.

“He’s technically a wild Pokémon, so he can get away with eating the Pokémart’s garbage. But if I were to catch him, it would then be illegal for him to eat the trash. I would have to feed him with my own pay. The pay at a Pokémart isn’t enough to support both me and Trubbish, so if I caught him officially, I would have serious financial problems.

“That’s where you come in. If I can hire you, that means there would be multiple employees working at the Pokémart and I could apply for a managerial position. That would, of course, include a substantial pay raise. So don’t think of working at the Pokémart as something that only benefits you, also think of how your decisions can benefit me!”

Honestly, for an unassuming guy like Marty that was a pretty complicated plan. I guess you really can’t judge a book by its cover. He made several good points and I didn’t see any solid reason to turn down the job offer.

“I have to say, that offer is pretty tempting, but I still don’t understand why you’re hiring me instead of someone else.”

Marty’s smile closed to be no more than a thin line on his face.

“Let’s just say that allowing a wild Pokémon to eat the Pokemart’s garbage, while technically not illegal, goes against several different local regulations and ordinances. You’re the first technical ‘applicant’ who wouldn’t be against it. I’ve interviewed people in the past but they’ve all expressed distaste with the idea of Trubbish.”

He said that last line quietly and with general disgust. In my old world, I knew people talked about Trubbish as a badly designed Pokémon, but since it turned out Pokémon were real, I guess the only one to blame for how Trubbish looked would be a natural process? There was no sense to hate the little guy for the circumstances of his birth, especially when he was so nice to me.

“Well Marty, you drive a hard bargain, but I have to say it’s a good deal for me. When do I start?”

“Hahaha! Excellent! You can start your first shift tomorrow. I’ll prepare the forms tonight so you can fill them out when you’re on the clock tomorrow and I’ll show you around the ‘mart. Thank you! It might benefit you a lot, but you’re doing me a big favor as well.”

This time, it was my turn to smile.

“No problem Marty. I’m glad you were able to take advantage of a stranger with memory loss for your own benefit. It definitely worked out for me.”

To my surprise, he actually laughed at that crappy joke.