Pokémon World Online
Please note: I do not own Pokémon, or SAO. I do claim ownership of my characters though
Chapter 1 – An Unexpected Turn of Events
I had never been the kind of girl who enjoyed gaming. Sure, I owned a few different consoles and various games, but none ever captured my interest for longer than a few weeks. They would then end up in the cupboard, with all of my other games.
Still, as soon as I heard about this new console, I knew I had to try it. It wasn't your typical kind of console. It wasn't square, or rectangle, or a hand held device. It didn't even need a controller. Instead, it was a helmet that you plugged directly into your power socket, meaning it wouldn't run out of power while you were gaming. You then laid down in bed, placed the helmet on your head, and were transported to a different world. Well, technically your body was exactly where you left it. It was as though you were dreaming.
My father must have left it for me to try out. I had heard that the prototypes had passed inspection, and all faults had been removed. The game was now open to certain individuals of the public, for trial. Some people had won the right to trial the game through competition. Others were in the gaming industry, or had the right connections. My father must have pulled a few strings to get me into the trial, along with the twenty thousand other lucky individuals.
I quickly glanced over the instructions, inserting the power into the socket. The top of the helmet had a small slit in it, where the game was inserted. I pulled the disc out of the cover, reading the game title; Pokémon Master. I laid down on the bed, and placed the helmet over my head. I had often wondered what it would be like to live in an alternate universe. And, growing up with the Pokémon TV series, and movies, it was often a part of my daydreaming.
My vision turned completely black, with small white lights dancing around my eyes.
The next second my eyes readjusted, and I was sitting in a chair. The room was still white around me. A man smiled at me, and then started to introduce me to the game. He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.
"Welcome to the land of Pokémon. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Lupus, and I am the creator of this world. Now, who might you be?"
I thought quickly, before declaring my name to be "Allira,"
"Are you a boy, or a girl?" The man asked.
"Girl," I replied, giving him a 'duh' face.
"Please step into the studio," He told me, waving me in the direction of a door. I opened it, and was surrounded by different outfits, hairstyles, cosmetics, and colour icons. A girl floated in the middle of the room, her body covered with only basic white underwear.
I had to select my skin colour; ivory.
My hair colour; silvery-white.
My eye colour; light blue-purple
My outfit; A purple pleated skirt, paired with a short sleeve white button-up shirt, covered by a grey vest, white knee high socks with a purple ruffle up the top, grey sneakers with purple laces, and a purple bow for my hair to complete the look.
Make-Up; simple eyeliner, mascara and nothing else.
The finished product looked great, as though she would come to life straight away.
My point of view shifted, and I suddenly became the girl, looking out of her eyes.
The man smiled at me. "Now that, that has been completed, it is time for you to start your adventure. This world will probably be a lot different to what you are used to. This watch will help you keep track of not only the time, but the world itself."
A black watch appeared on my wrist, with many buttons attached to the side.
"You just click the red button to change what the watch displays. Right now, it shows just the time. If you click that red button, it will change to the map," I clicked the button, and, sure enough, a blue glow emitted from the watch, displaying a large map of the Pokémon world. It reminded me of something off of star wars, the projections they used to make calls to other people.
A small red dot appeared on one of the smaller towns, called "The City of Life".
"All players start off in The City of Life," The man continued. "While it may seem strange at first, you will be playing this game with many other people, from all around the world. Now, I don't want to keep you for much longer. In order for you to save your game, log out, or ask any questions, please record it in this book,"
A book appeared in my hands, its cover made of simple brown paper.
"Your very own Pokémon adventure is about to unfold. I wish you luck on your journey!" Professor Lupus wished me farewell, and the world once again faded around me.
.0.0.
I woke up in a bed, alone, in what looked like a hotel room. The room consisted of a large living/kitchen/dining area, with a bed shoved in one corner. Another door led to a bathroom. My watch started to vibrate, and an image of the professor appeared about it, surrounded with blue light.
"I see you have made it!" He exclaimed happily. "I have some very good news for you. I have just received a package, containing a large number of starter Pokémon. I have a very important journey I would like to entrust to you. Please come to my lab right away!"
He disconnected, and his image disappeared.
I brought up the map, enlarging the town I was currently in. The lab wasn't too far away. Before I left the room, I booted up the computer, grabbing the potion off of it. A small key was also on the desk. I grabbed it and hurried out of the room, using the key to lock the door behind me. I was standing in a large hall, filled with many other doors. Other people were also coming out of their rooms, glancing around them in awe. We filed down the hall, some people making their way to the elevator, others to the stairs. I opted with the stairs, going down them as quickly as possible. The bottom floor of this building was a basic sort of Hotel entrance room. A reception desk was manned by two women, there was a couple of comfortable looking couches, a rug and a few pot plants. The door opened as I walked towards it, and I followed a group of people to the lab.
What I didn't expect was for there to be a very, very large amount of people standing in a large open, red brick floored area in front of the lab. It was as though every member of the game was here.
Some people whispered in groups, others stood alone, looking confused.
"It's locked," A girl's voice said above the crowd. "No one can get in, and once you come into this area, you can't get back out,"
"There's no log-out button," A guy's voice added, his voice cracking.
I checked as well and, sure enough, I could not log out. I couldn't even save my game.
A guy standing next to me jabbed at an invisible wall that seemed to surround us. A loud 'zap' sounded, and he flew backwards.
A loud noise pierced through my ears, making me grab them with my hands. Some people started screaming, others started to cry.
"We are finally all here," Professor Lupus's voice called out. He appeared in the middle of the clearing, floating above all of the people, near the lab. "As I have already said, I am the games creator. It wasn't easy to come up with such a game as this. A game where people could feel as though they were living every single moment. A game where you could experience feelings, emotions… pain. Once I had created it, I longed for more. I've never had much out of life. I was always told I was nothing. But now I have proved to everyone; I am a God. You may have noticed there is no save button. There is no log-out button. There is a reason for this. Until someone completes this game, you will be unable to return to the human world. Until someone completes the game, you are trapped here. If you die in this game, you will die in real life. Though, if you die in one of the cities, you will just return to your hotel room. If all of you Pokémon faint, you will still be alive, unless you die before the next pokecenter. I am so excited to see who finally completes this game, my world. I will be waiting. Why don't you all… get familiar with your true selves," His image disappeared but his laughter echoed throughout the area. A strange tingling sensation filled my body, and my appearance changed. My clothes remained the same, but my skin colour slightly darkened, and my hair changed from silver to jet-black. I could only guess that my eyes would have become silvery blue. My height also decreased.
Panicked voices filled the clearing, as people changed in appearance, and came to the realization that we were trapped inside of a game, and could be stuck here for a very long time.
I finally realized why Professor Lupis looked so familiar. My body froze with shock, and my eyes widened in fear. If anyone found out… I shook my head and took a few deep breaths, pushing my way through the crowd and to the lab. If the only way to get home was to complete this game, that was what I would do. There would time to break down later.
.o.o.
The labs professor was completely different to Lupus.
In fact, it was a lady, named Professor Rose.
She introduced me to the Pokémon world, yet again, and then pointed to a table, which contained eighteen poke balls. There were seventeen other contestants in the room, which seemed to be the maximum amount of people who could fit.
"Here are the starter Pokémon you can choose from. You can choose any starter from the traditional regions, excluding special starters like Pikachu and Eevee, which can be caught in different areas of the game. Please go ahead and choose. Though be careful, you can only decide this once,"
I already knew which Pokémon I would choose, and happily picked up the Charmander poke ball.
"Would you like to choose Charmander?" Professor Rose asked me.
"Yes please," I confirmed.
"Wonderful! Would you like to give your Charmander a nickname?" She said.
This would make my Charmander different to other players. I confirmed, checking the gender of my Charmander. I was lucky enough to have been given a female. I named her Charlie.
"Please accept these poke balls, and this potion. Also, here is my number, in case you need to contact me, or I need to contact you," She added, handing a set to each person.
She placed her watch next to mine and pressed the options button. My name appeared, and she clicked on it, selecting 'add to contacts'.
"And here is an app for your watch. It's called the pokedex. Just press the red button on your watch to select it. It would mean the world to me if you could complete that pokedex. Once you do, I'll have a special surprise for you. I wish you all the luck for your journey." She told me with a huge grin.
I exited the room with the other contestants, to find a massive line leading to the lab. Some people were still crying, others looked as determined as I felt. There were small groups of people clustered together, and I wondered if they were friends on the outside world. I had come here alone, and I knew no one. If I was to complete this game, I would have to do it by myself. In a game where, if you died, you also died in real life, how were you supposed to trust anyone? Especially if they found out I knew who Professor Lupis was.
I checked my map once again, noticing that the land was divided into sections. The City of Life was directly in the center of the new world, and in a circular kind of shape. It was then as though it had been sliced into eight different sections, like a cake. Water separated the areas, and surrounded the City of Life, and to get to each section from this city, you had to walk over a bridge. Above the different sections were numbers, starting from 1 and ending with 8. I headed towards section one, noticing I wasn't the only person heading there. Every other player who had already received their starter Pokémon was heading in that direction. A small building marked the entrance to section one, and another automatic door opened when I got closer, revealing a small hallway, like those in the game that led to different towns, or areas. A man stood guard off to a corner, bent over a desk.
"Gee, I'm thirsty," He said as I passed him "I wouldn't mind a nice glass of water,"
It reminded me of the hand held games, and I couldn't help but smile. I was almost to the other side when the door behind me opened.
"This is serious!" A girl's voice whined.
"I never said it wasn't," A male replied.
"We could die here. Literally, die. Poof. No longer existing," She continued, slightly hysterical.
"Why did you even join the game in the first place?" Another boy joined in "You have never had any interest in gaming before,"
I turned my head slightly, seeing a group of five teenagers.
The hysterical girl had long, auburn hair and bright blue eyes. Her legs went on for miles, and her waist looked the size of a Barbie dolls.
"What are you looking at?" She snapped at me.
I looked forwards again, covering my face with my hair.
"Nothing," I muttered, hurrying to the other side of the door.
I was met with a large grassy area, and I hurried away as fast as I could, to get away from that girl.
I walked a little too fast, and a wild pidgey jumped out at me.
"Well, here goes nothing," I muttered, throwing my poke ball and releasing my Charmander.
There was something about the pidgey that seemed not quite right. Its body was surrounded by a strange purple/black glow, and its eyes shone red as it looked at me.
"Oh geez," I whispered. I pressed the pokedex button on my watch, aiming it towards the pidgey.
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon, I am your personal guide, your Watchman. By now you may have noticed that the Pokémon here are rather different to what you may have been expecting. They are under the influence of a dark power which has closed their hearts. In order to set them free, you must battle them, catch them, and train them. If you look carefully, you will notice a purple bar underneath their HP bar. Once this bar completely disappears, the Pokémon will be set free. Unlike normal Pokémon, if you are in the wild and not protected by your own Pokémon, they will attack you. This can cause you not only serious pain, but death,"
My mind swirled, thinking of a Pokémon game I had once played where the evil team turned normal Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon. Sometimes the process to purify a Pokémon took ages. Others took no time at all. The thought of being attacked by a Pokémon slightly terrified me, especially one with red, glowing, eyes.
I pressed the pokedex button again.
"Pidgey, the small bird Pokémon. Pidgey create massive storms of sand by flapping their wings at high speed,"
"Okay then… Charmander, use scratch," I said.
An icon appeared on the side of my vision, showing me the health, level, and moves of my Pokémon. She was level 5, which I had been expecting, and only knew the moves scratch and leer.
A small amount of health was taken away from the pidgey, and it counter attacked with a tackle.
The battle didn't last long, with the pidgey fainting shortly after. Its eyes swirled for a few seconds before it vanished in thin air. Charmanders blue level-up bar grew to half way. I decided to stay in this area for a while, and found a few other bird Pokémon, as well as some bug and normal types.
I leveled Charmander up to level nine, then went on to the next town; Humbleton. The town contained a Pokémon center, a pokemart, a few houses and a hotel that looked exactly like the one in the City of Life. There were a couple of cafes and restaurants as well, where a few people were eating their dinner. The sky above me had started to turn orange, pink and red with sunset, and I knew the day was about to end. I grabbed what appeared to be a salad roll from the café, healed my Charmander at the poke center, and headed back to my hotel room; room 507. It looked exactly the same as my room in the City of Life, and I wondered, briefly, if they were connected. I curled up on the bed, and finally felt silent tears drip down my cheeks. I was trapped here. I would never see my family again, or at least, not for a very long time. I wondered what would happen to my body, and if my parents would be okay. I was their only child, I had no siblings to comfort them.
My sobs increased until I found it hard to breath. Eventually, I fell into a deep sleep.
.o.o.