A Cursed Death

'Memory merge commencing'

Despite being such a small child, he cursed them.

Even in his dying breaths, he cursed them.

"If you die cursing, doesn't that make me an evil spirit?" A small child of no more than seven or eight could be seen laughing hysterically, his body covered in thick painful bruises, and frayed clothing smeared with poverty-caked neglect.

He had expected an eternal blackness or salvation, but here he was instead, in a middle ground, a mishmash of both perhaps.

Despite having no family he was just an ordinary guy, perhaps he could have even been called smart. As a boy, he worked hard in school and received a scholarship, but reality had other things in mind.

He had unknowingly been in crippling debt before having the mental maturity to understand the concept of it, and it was the kind you can never climb out of. This was the kind of debt a man named Noah spent his life living in.

On earth, there was a country that had excellent healthcare, and it was a paradise, but only as long as you could afford to live within it, if you were poor you could pay an ordinary man's entire wages for a month to have a single broken finger fixed, and being hospitalized for a day could even rack up ten thousand dollars.

Noah, as soon as he was old enough to leave the orphanage, the same day of his high school graduation, received a bill.

Thinking it was a mistake, he then realized on that day what kind of hole he was in, he was underwater without knowing it.

That time he had spent in the hospital as a five-year-old kid was now calling for its blood price.

There would be no college, the debt made it explicit that it wouldn't be waiting for long.

So, in such a rich loving country, what is an orphan to do after spending ten months in the hospital? who is going to pay for it? His nonexistent parents? The government? Life is not that kind.

The only answer is to spend the rest of his life paying for the debt until his body gives out, however, in this case, his mind had given out first.

There used to be a joke he would tell himself when he stood in front of the morning subway to go spend the next sixteen hours working, 'Just remember Noah, no matter how bad it gets, if you take a few steps forward, then the pain will stop, and if you're lucky, and there is a god, you'll go to paradise.'

With bags under his eyes, he didn't know why, but on that day he truly believed those words and he felt he couldn't continue.

Before being dragged under the train he had whispered a final prayer, 'If there is a god, I won't ask for much, if I'm reborn, please, I only beg you let me experience the warmth of a father or the care of a mother.'

.

Back to the present, the small child continued snickering to himself as if he had just seen the funniest thing in the world, as memories that didn't belong to him continued filling his mind.

He had always had fantasies of transporting to a comic book world or an anime, and he knew it was simple childish escapism.

When he was a boy, he wouldn't even entertain those thoughts as he put his nose to the grindstone, but ironically, as he got older and worked tirelessly just to keep his head above the water, he began to fantasize more and more. More than that, he had wished to know what it was like to have the warmth of a family.

However, that was not the wish that came true, but rather another.

If these new memories were to be believed, then he was once again an orphan, however, with these new memories, he found this was not earth, but somewhere else entirely, this world could even be called a fantasy, but these very same memories, yes, the ones seared into his mind would never mistake this world for a paradise in heaven.

At some point, his expression became solemn, and as the cosmic irony of the situation began to wear thin on his humor, he spoke without any cheer, "So your name was Noah Whitlock… an orphan of Viridian city, and beaten to death by two Team Rocket members, Zack… and Chris."

As he said the names, the faces of the two flashed across his mind,

The deceased Noah had been a 'package' runner for the two, and part-time punching bag, but it was worth it for the money.

Unfortunately, when Noah lost the bag of 'spice,' the two men had beaten him half to death, and then the other half as well.

Not realizing it, the deceased Noah's thoughts were already part of his own, and no longer foreign.

From the deceased Noah's memories, he naturally noted that there were no military weapons and the strength of any single individual was almost directly proportional to the pokemon under their command.

Noah couldn't help but mutter, "So in this world pokemon are everything… from weapons of war to work plows or even house pets. "

He knew Noah lived in an orphanage, which means he currently has a place to sleep, and a small amount of food to barely live, and these needs would not be an issue at this very moment.

The problem here is related to some of the other boys and girls at the orphanage.

Team Rocket loved orphans, they were kids nobody would care for, and they had no backing. Not only that, but people are naturally less likely to suspect a kid, so they made for ideal 'package' runners.

Noah knew that if he returned there at this moment, he would likely be dragged before those two men, and he didn't want to take the chance that those two irritable bastards would finish him off.

Orphans naturally have no capital, and nobody is keen on giving them any, but this world being a technological age, and similar to what it was like in the pokemon stories from earth, there are plenty of books to read in the orphanage. The previous Noah had a love for reading, that is, up until his death.

Most orphans would join the military upon turning ten, and frankly, it was a good deal, they were given a pokemon, and resources, and as there were currently no open wars or skirmishes, they would likely have nothing to worry about, although Noah wasn't so certain about that, as the source of this information was questionable.

Unfortunately, Noah didn't have the luxury of waiting two years until he turned ten, and at this current time and place he knew had precious few choices, but one idea happened to stick out more than the others.

Those two Team Rocket members often urged him and the orphans to join their group, but Noah knew that few of the other orphans would, for it was known that the ones who joined them were never seen again.

Those few kids were thankful because for whatever reason it was voluntary, and they would rather run packages and wait a few years to join the military than to get sent off into who knows where.

Finally, Noah closed his eyes while feeling the helplessness and rage from the previous Noahs death wash over him, and then, coming to a decision, he opened them, "Alright Noah, this situation is still crazy to me, and frankly I'm starting to wonder if I'm going insane, but, you've given me your body, however, I am me, and you are you, I won't live my life for your revenge, but I also won't forget your grudge, and if I ever gain the strength to act on it, then perhaps a day will come where I will.

'Memory merge complete'

"???"