THE WHITE HERO
Summary: After failing to kill Dumbledore, Draco escapes Voldemort to the Unova region and unwittingly becomes a pokémon trainer in order to find the mysterious being that seems to have summoned him.
A/N: Rated T to be safe for later chapters, but most of the story will be lighthearted and fun. Canon-compliant up to the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Although the main setting is Unova, I have every intention of throwing in older pokémon whenever I feel like it. This story contains game characters only, but I may borrow ideas from the anime.
Warning: This story loosely follows the plot of Pokemon Black/White and will contain major spoilers.
Prologue: The Dream
I've been waiting for you…
Draco did not know this place. It was pure white all around him, as far as his eyes could see. The voice that spoke to him seemed to emanate from his surroundings; he was sure he had never heard it before, but somehow it felt familiar to him.
You're afraid, aren't you? You do not wish to wake up.
So he was asleep, if the voice was telling the truth, and he was sure that it was. But if this was a dream, then why did it feel so real?
"I'm afraid he'll kill me if I face him. He said he would if I failed my mission…"
The one you fear will not find you here. I can use my remaining power to bring you here, if you wish.
"Where is 'here'? What are you talking about?"
You shall see…
A square window suddenly appeared in front of him, apparently floating in mid-air. Pictured through the window was a pixelated old man wearing a white lab coat and reading from a book. Directly below the man, there was a rectangular frame, and within the frame, words began to appear. As the words appeared, they were read aloud by a different voice, which logically must belong to the old man. "Hello there!" it said. "Welcome to the world of POKéMON! My name is OAK! People call me the POKéMON PROF!"
The old man disappeared from the window and was replaced by a pixelated depiction of a four-legged, large-eared horned creature. Oak's voice continued, "This world is inhabited by creatures called POKéMON! For some people, POKéMON are pets. Others use them for fights. Myself… I study POKéMON as a profession."
This voice was strangely monotone, almost robotic-sounding. It unnerved him a little, but not so much as the things it was saying. What were these pokémon that people used for fights? Were they more powerful than the Dark Lord?
The creature vanished from the window and Oak reappeared. When he spoke again, the text in the box did not change and his voice lost its robotic sound. He said, "This is not a dream, Draco Malfoy."
Suddenly, Draco understood that Oak was a real person; the image in the window was only a representation of him, and these pokémon—they had to be real too.
"Right now, you are travelling between two different universes—your own world, and the world I just described to you," Oak explained. "You will arrive in a place called Unova. Listen carefully, Draco. When you get there, you must find Professor Juniper and choose a starter pokémon. Your next step will become clear only after you have done this."
It was all happening so fast; he did not understand any of it. "Wait—" said Draco. "I never said I wanted to go!"
"It appears you are being summoned. Your own will not to wake up in your world and have to face the one you know as Lord Voldemort seems to have combined with the power of a legendary pokémon to create a rift in space-time, allowing you to cross dimensions.
"There is little time left, one way or another, we are almost there. Remember what you need to do, and remember what I told you."
"Hold on!" Draco cried. "Will I be able to get back home?"
"I believe you will find your way back when you are ready. Remember what I told you, Draco."
1: A Familiar Face
Remember what I told you… The words rang in his ear when the bright morning sun woke him up. He remembered running from the Astronomy Tower with Snape. He remembered Dumbledore's offer of protection for him and his family, and how he had been about to accept when the other Death Eaters had arrived. He remembered lying in bed regretting that he had not lowered his wand sooner, and dreading having to face the Dark Lord after he had failed his task.
But that could not be right—the words were, 'Remember what I told you.' Where had he heard them? Was it a dream? He could not remember. Reluctantly, Draco opened his eyes.
He was not in his room. He crawled out of bed, and when he looked around, he saw that he was in a small attic bedroom, furnished with a desk in the corner (on which sat a strange rectangular object), a small table beside the bed, and a wardrobe and bookcase on the opposite wall. He did not have his wand.
He opened the wardrobe. There were no wizard robes; this was clearly the home of a Muggle. Still, Draco simply shrugged and dressed in black trousers and a navy blue jacket over a black t-shirt. He found an empty backpack next to the wardrobe, and in it he stuffed a second set of clothes and his pyjamas. He had just turned toward the stairs when, as an afterthought, he grabbed the black, white and red cap that was on the bedside table and put it on.
The main floor of the house was just as tiny as the attic bedroom and was not much more than a kitchen and dining room. He noticed a larger rectangular object similar to the one on his desk featured prominently, and for a brief moment he wondered what it was, but he had no genuine desire to find out. He set the backpack on a chair in the dining area and opened the kitchen cupboard.
A package of instant oatmeal caught his eye. Convinced that this was a Muggle house, he wondered what made it 'instant' and picked it up. What the hell is a microwave? Draco thought with a puzzled expression after reading the instructions on the box. Disappointed, he put it back and searched for something easier. These Muggle things were really starting to annoy him. He finally settled on a bowl of Cocoa Puffs with something called 'Moomoo Milk' that tasted surprisingly better than the milk he was used to.
He did not understand why he was in this tiny Muggle house or how he had got there, but somehow he knew that it was safe. Wherever he was, he was far away from the Dark Lord, and no known magic could track him. But where was his mother? He had not meant to leave without her. He had not meant to leave at all, now that he thought about it. He had intended to face the Dark Lord and hope for mercy because he had seen no other option. But now… somehow Draco was safe and his mother was alone. He had to get back.
Remember what I told you… What had the dream told him? Why couldn't he remember? All he knew was that he had to leave this house. He flung the backpack over his shoulder and stepped outside.
He was in a small rural town. The air was crisp—it was spring here too. The grass was green, the sky was blue, the leaves on the trees rustled in the wind, a flock of strange pigeon-like birds flew off as Draco approached them—it was a perfect day, as far as nature was concerned, at least.
He decided to take a walk. Perhaps more of the dream would come back to him with a bit of exploration. It was not like he had anything else to do anyway, and he did not want to stay in that Muggle house. It took him no more than twenty minutes to explore the entire minuscule town, and still he was just as confused as when he first woke up.
Disappointed, Draco leaned against the wooden fence on the edge of town and gazed out at the ocean skyline. He tried to think of something back home that it could remind of, but nothing came to mind. The unfamiliarity of this place made him sick. He wanted his mother, and Dark Lord or no Dark Lord, he wanted to go home.
He walked some more, and this time, he noticed that all the houses looked about the same, but there was one building that was different. It was the largest building in town, and there was a sign in front of it. Draco approached and read, 'Juniper Pokémon Lab.'
He suddenly felt as though this was where he needed to be, but he could not remember what he was supposed to do.
"Hello," said a voice behind him.
Startled, Draco turned around and discovered that the owner of this voice was a boy about his age with sleek black hair in a cropped cut and half-moon glasses. He was dressed like a Muggle, in a similar fashion as Draco.
"Are you here to get a pokémon too?" the boy asked.
Draco stared at him, puzzled for a moment, then he realised how stupid he must look, and simply answered, "Yes." If this was where he needed to be, and that boy was there to get a pokémon, then logically Draco must be there to get a pokémon as well, though he had no idea what a pokémon was.
"You live in that house in the middle of town, don't you?"
Draco wondered—did he live in that house? He had certainly woke up there, and there had not been anyone else inside. "Er—yeah," he muttered.
"I thought so. It's strange that we've never met before. I'm Cheren, anyway," the boy said in an unnervingly friendly tone. Draco did not want to make friends with a Muggle.
He decided there was no harm in simply being polite—after all, he was lost in an unfamiliar place and beginning to feel, among other things, quite lonely. "I'm Draco," he said impassively.
"Should we go inside?"
The only things Draco could actually identify inside the lab were the desks, chairs, shelves, and books. There were more of those rectangular objects like the one on his desk in the Muggle house, and other odd-looking devices that he could not even begin to wonder about. He did not like this world at all.
Cheren led the way to the back, where a woman in a white lab coat sat at one of the desks.
"Hello, Cheren," said the woman. "You brought a friend with you?"
No, they were not friends, Draco thought. They had just met, and he was a Muggle.
"This is Draco. He's here to get a pokémon too," Cheren explained.
"Well Draco, I'm Professor Juniper," the woman said. "As I'm sure you both already know, you get to choose one of three different pokémon."
Draco had had it with these Muggles! He did not know any of this! Where were all the wizards? He wanted to leave, but not before he got a pokémon. He was absolutely sure that he needed to have a pokémon.
The professor stood up and opened a cardboard box on her desk. She removed three red and white spheres that bore a very unusual resemblance to the cap that Draco had put on that morning.
"They are—" She tossed one of the spheres into the air; it seemed to open, and in a burst of light, a green snake-like creature with a leaf on its tail appeared. "Snivy, a grass type."
Draco was barely listening. He gazed at the creature in wonder, with an expression on his face quite different from any he had shown all morning. All of his frustration seemed to slip away at the sight of the little green creature.
Professor Juniper tossed a second sphere into the air, and with another burst of light, a second creature that Draco barely glanced at for half a second appeared. "Tepig, a fire type."
The third and final sphere was tossed and revealed a creature that Draco did not even bother acknowledging, but the professor described as, "Oshawott, a water type."
"You can pick first if you want," said Cheren. "I don't mind."
Draco could not help but grin broadly when he said, "I don't want any pokémon except this one," indicating the little green creature that gazed up at him with a perfect air of smugness.
"Well then, Snivy is yours," said Professor Juniper. She seemed about to put it back in the sphere, but Draco crouched down and lifted his new friend into his arms. Instinctively, he held out his wand hand, and the professor handed him the sphere. He pushed the button in the centre, trying it out, and it shrunk to a smaller size.
"I'll choose Tepig then," Cheren said.
Draco was not listening. He turned around and started to walk toward the door.
"Hold on a minute," said Professor Juniper. What now? Draco thought. "You forgot your pokédex."
At that moment, Draco did not care what a pokédex was; he took the object without a word and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.
He had spent the entire morning hating this world, but now Draco had found one thing that he really, really liked. If there was a Slytherin pokémon, Snivy was it, without a doubt. Seeing that face had felt like a little piece of Hogwarts—of home—had found him here. Draco definitely liked Snivy a lot.
He walked out of the lab with his pokémon on his shoulder, clutching the little ball in his right hand, and noticing that somehow, that little ball in that hand felt just as powerful as his wand.