Instinct tinged on the edge of my mind as I slowly came to. Enveloped by warmth, unable to move or even see. That instinct on the edge of my mind slowly raged on, becoming larger and larger until it overwhelmed me. Telling me to do one thing and one thing only ‘ESCAPE.’ My body suddenly able to move I thrashed and pushed against the smooth wet walls keeping me in, putting as much strength in as I could to get out. Until something popped, a soft crack as a small part of my cage fell away.

  Light blinded me from the opening, I tried to close my eyes but it only dimmed the light slightly, I could still see just fine even with them closed. Slowly my eyes adjusted to see the canopy of trees shifting with the wind above me, light filtering and moving through the branches. I slowly came to and began working to get out, taking advantage of the small hole to crack off other pieces until I rolled right out of… An egg?

  I see… I’ve just hatched…

  I didn’t quite know what I was yet, I had memories from my past life but none of that would help with this. I had reincarnated as a Pokemon at least, but as always staying calm was tantamount to survival. My one golden rule that may as well transfer over to this new life. As I stretched out my body, eating the egg shell pieces off the ground with my newfound giant maw without a second thought. The instinctual actions were intriguing, but not unwelcome, like flexing a muscle without thinking or saying ‘ow’ when you stubbed your toe.

  The irony of my one rule wasn’t lost on me as I realized what I was, not only a dragon, but also one popular for its temper. My background as a dragon master and a Blackthorn meant it was familiar, while I had never raised one of the Tyrant line I’d encountered them before. Definitely an interesting predicament to say the least, though I may have preferred something I knew more like a Dratini or a Goomy having limbs(however small some of them are)was nice. Honestly the only reason I could tell what I had become was because of how I felt, rocky skin and proportions that challenged my balance a bit with my huge head.

  I slowly raised myself on my wobbly legs, trying not to fall as I took a step to finish eating. I was voracious, a level of hunger I’d never encountered before. I felt like I could eat this giant egg five times over and still not be full. Taking the last bite, the crunching and cracking noises coming from my mouth ceasing. I took a moment to finally take in my surroundings, almost yelping in surprise as I noticed the figure hulking over me.

  A massive Tyrantrum, staring at me intently with an amused glint in its eyes. I might’ve been a tad intimidated if not for the overwhelming instinct that took over instead. Pure unadulterated love for the monster in front of me, unmistakably my mother. Or new mother at least, either way I was clearly too young to fight my instincts even if I had a logical mind. Running over to her immediately without a second thought, I tripped on my wobbly new legs, landing head first in the grass.

  A moment passed as I continued looking at her, still sprawled out on the ground. A deep huff was followed by a chuckle that vibrated the ground around us. Standing back up I took note of my surroundings again, less distracted by mother now. A huge nest surrounded me, made of dead leaves, branches and held down in some places by rocks and boulders about half to double my size. It was huge, big enough that mothers enormous body could fit in it at least. I would say she was an alpha if my sense of size wasn’t so lopsided at the moment. Definitely bigger than the last Tyrantrum I’d met.

  Without a single thought in my head I was twirling around in circles to take in everything around me, practically chasing my tail. Judging by the noises my mom made it was quite amusing. The nest was nestled against a wall of rock, looking up I could see the cliff side hanging above. Around the nest was a wall of trees bigger than I’d ever seen, or maybe I was just small, gaps between them just large enough for mother to fit through.

  “Sit child, rest. I will get food.” A gruff raspy voice, spoken more in intention than words. Focusing on the sounds themselves it was more a series of deep grunts and a growl.

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  “Ok!” I said with more enthusiasm than I expected to come out, already salivating in vicious hunger at the thought of food. Infinitely helpful that I not only instinctively knew how to speak but also that I was already familiar with Pokemon speaking through aura in the past. Mother gave me an odd look though.

  “Smart one are ya? I’ll be back.” She grunted out, slowly standing up, earth shaking with each step before the noise suddenly ceased. Quickly becoming silent as she stalked out of the nest. Suddenly I was frighteningly aware of how open it was, the cliff curled around the nest in a large divot into the mountainside. But that only did so much, if something in the forest found me I was vulnerable at best.

  I doubted much would touch a Tyrants nest but I’d seen Sneasle nab baby dragons from mountain nests before. Instead of freaking out I just did what my body told me to, crouching down and curling up until I was sure I looked well enough like one of the brown boulders in the nest. It made some sense, its not like the nest would blow away without the rocks keeping it down. Hopefully if something came around it’d think the nest was empty or break their teeth against one of the other rocks while testing their luck.

  Finally having some time to think I took stock of my situation. I could tell I was still female at least, and so far my new species tendency towards tantrums hasn’t really affected me which was nice, not that I'd been alive very long. Unless I had traveled back in time the only place I could think of where the Tyrantrum line lives is the Crown Tundra. Though I didn’t see any snow, being fairly warm-ish, so probably to the North of the main Tundra area… The linear nature of Galar is surprisingly helpful, I’ve only looked at a map a few times but it wasn’t that hard to remember.

  The closest human town to the Tundra was… Wedgehurst right? Or was there another in-between? Actually wasn’t there a town right in the Tundra? I’d lived in and around dragon aeries before but the Tundra was pure untamed wilderness no? Walls hardly keep out Pokemon… Too many questions, one step at a time.

  Making sure I wouldn’t break down mentally, which would probably be totally fair here to be honest. I wasn’t sure if it was a curse or a blessing to have my former memories. An advantage yes… But everything, everyone, I left behind… My Pokemon, no, my family… Stop. Compartmentalize, stow it away for later. I’d already messed things up with one mom before, I couldn’t let this kind of thing ruin my relationship with mother. Even if my survival didn’t bank off of her existence I’d only said a word to her and already love her unconditionally. Instincts are a wild thing.

  I slowly drifted off into slumber as my thoughts petered off. My body still as a rock as I slept was eventually nudged hard by something, a familiar huff blowing warm wet air over my body, followed by the thick scent of blood. Uncurling and groggily looking up at mother confused. Until my eyes landed on the corpse laid out in the middle of the nest. I don’t know what I expected but it certainly wasn’t a Lairon. Though it made sense, the steel alloys would nourish my rock type body. Not that I had time to think any of that before I was ripping into the corpse. Voracious was definitely the word for it, unable to control myself at all as I tore off a leg, barely bothering to chew I a scarfed it down.

  “Slow, child.” The hearty and ever amused chuckle broke my out of my fervor. Slowing down and ignoring my screaming stomach as I ate. It didn’t take long till I was picking at scraps of steel armored exoskeleton. Slowing further to chew the metal down into as small pieces as I could manage. Now that I had broken out of my eating daze I realized that mother must have crushed the Lairon’s armor in to kill it, bursting its stomach out a bit. Making it almost like eating out of a large bowl. Not that that was a very nice thought, all things considered, at least it tasted good. “Come, child.”

  I walked over to her, letting her lap up the blood and guts still dripping off my face. Glad to be clean again I curled up against her. Taking her in again, giant as always, but now I noticed her red body covered in scars. White mantle torn in some places, physical proof of her prowess. Her crown cracked slightly down the side, she was… Weathered. Old. Now that I looked she was obviously an alpha at least. Which was slightly confusing.

  I wasn’t familiar with Tyrantrum’s normal nesting practices, but most dragons formed in groups. Whether she was chased out by another alpha or it was just a quirk of the Tyrantrum line I wasn’t sure. Her eyes caught mine, holding my gaze for while before she spoke.

  “What is it sweetie?”

  “Scars. Curious.” It seemed I wasn’t able to convey much complexity through speech yet, logical thinking didn’t quite translate to speech. Though based on the look mother gave me earlier I was ahead of the curve at least. She grunted, grinning down at me as her tail curled around me, gently pinning me to her laying body.

  “Someday you will earn your own scars little one.” She said simply, before laying her head down, curled around me in a huge protective ball of muscle.

  Before I could even think of continuing the conversation drowsiness took me and I was letting sleep take me again.