I'll be the first to admit I'm not a light sleeper, by any stretch of the imagination. I've slept through some of the worst weather in North America, and a few minor earthquakes without even interrupting my dreams. When I travel, rather than having difficulty sleeping, I find sitting in a car or airplane puts me right out. Don't get me started on travelling over open water, the moment I step foot on a boat it's a constant struggle to stay awake.

Which is probably why it took me so long to wake up in this situation. The first thing I noticed was how warm I was. Not the 'I'm wrapped in too many blankets' warm, or even the 'space heater is on in my room' warm. It's the odd sensation of having your entire body wrapped in an evenly spread warmth. The kind of warmth that matches your own body temperature so well that it's hard to tell where your own body actually ends.

Naturally, the first thing I did was open my eyes.

Which sucked.

With sight restored I quickly noticed a lot of out of place things. Namely, I'm stuck in a god damn test tube. Alright, don't panic, what are the odds this is all some strange dream?

...

Highly unlikely.

At best.

So stay calm, inspect the surroundings, and save the freak out for later.

Tube filled with strange warm green liquid? Check.

Breathing mask over face? Check.

IV's to keep me drugged and/or fed? Check.

Naked? That would be another Check.

Does it say something about me that the last bit bothers me more than the others? Probably.

Alright, so things inside the test tube seem to be rather useless. Self-depreciatingly so. Outside is kind of blurry, what with it being tinged green from the tube-goo and dimly lit. Though if I squint a little...

Is that...?

Yes. There is a naked teenage girl standing in the hall in front of me. With pink hair.

It's natural. Yes, I looked, even in situations like this I have my priorities.

Select Species

Gah! Alright, I take back everything I ever said about Telepathy being cool. And I know that was Telepathy because there's no way any noise went through my ears.

Also, the voice smells like cinnamon.

Species? I'd already guessed I was going to be some kind of science experiment, but I never figured I'd get a choice in the matter. Do I have options strange mind voice thing?

Immediately several hundred images flash through my mind at the speed of thought. I'm not past the first one before I recognize what's going on.

Pokemon.

I'll admit, I grew up on the games and show, and still purchase each new one that comes out. I'm not a rabid fan... I've had my shots. But I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to the game.

Still, pouring over the information given, I can't help but notice one thing. Each and every one of the available pokemon is stated out using the Pokemon Tabletop Adventure system.

Right, given the options... No legendaries, that makes sense. No pseudo-legendaries either, so no choosing Hydreigon and going on a rampage.

That leaves, what, six hundred odd choices?

Let's see... Given that I'm stuck in a sci-fi tank of scienceness, I very much doubt I'm choosing my starter pokemon for an adventure. It also doesn't seem like the kind of world to have a mystery dungeon theme.

So, ideally, I want something with a broad moveset that can function well as a one mon team. Anything with a double weakness is right out.

My mind skims past Smeargle for a moment. Amusingly enough, with the way stats work in PTA, Smeargle isn't the trap most players of the video games see him as. One stat per level means that while a level 1 Smeargle has 29 total stats, and a Dragonite has 60, at level 100 it's a comparison between 129 and 160, a much closer fight.

Still, one Sketch per 10 levels would leave me crippled for most of the game, and there's no guarantee I'll find good moves to sketch any time soon either. So bench the artistic dog for now.

With no trainer feature shenanigans being guaranteed, some of the other 'broken' pokemon are nerfed as well. Shame.

I wrack my brain trying to figure out what to do. Most people would probably pick their favorite pokemon without giving it much thought. Hell, I know a good chunk of people would pick Charizard right away, despite the... Exploitable weaknesses.

Though of Mega Evolving has been implemented...

There's a thought. Scrolling quickly through the list in my mind (It's kind of like a head's up display at the moment. I could wax poetic about how all this information being jammed into my head changes and evolves due to my own perceptions but...) I find that surprisingly enough, the Kalos pokedex has been added.

Laughing maniacally, I start scrolling down to Clawitzer. Let's face it, a standard moveset with great type coverage, powered up by the ability Mega Launcher? Plus, being pure water type means only two weaknesses and four resistances.

And then something else catches my eye. The starters.

For those of you who haven't played PTA, let me explain a little. Every pokemon in the game is given a variety of abilities. They're divided between normal abilities, and high abilities. Normal abilities are usually what you find on pokemon caught in the wild, and high abilities are their standard hidden abilities. On top of that, every pokemon is given something like 'torrent' for their type. These are all given as options.

Every pokemon starts with one base ability, and once they hit level 40 they gain another. The second one can be a hidden ability, but doesn't have to be.

Now, the reason this can be important is, stacking abilities can get ridiculous. Ursaring, for example, can get Guts AND Quick Feet. On top of that, because all of the starters usually only have 'last chance' abilities like Torrent, well... The PTA creators took it upon themselves to give them two normal abilities each.

Enter Froakie. Or rather, Greninja. Standard Greninja is Water/Dark, and has Torrent as a normal ability, with Protean as a high ability.

Protean alone is game changing. Being able to change type with every attack can completely change the outcome of a battle.

But that's not what caused me to pause.

Under Greninja's normal ability entry were the following: Torrent (Powers up Water type moves in a pinch), Dark Art (Powers up Dark type moves in a pinch.), Pickpocket (Steals enemy held item when using a melee move, once per day), Unburden (Raises speed when held item is used/lost)

Pickpocket and Unburden being the two new choices.

Forget Clawitzer, I know what I'm playing.

'Select Greninja' I think really hard. I imagine I probably looked a little odd doing it, but I don't really know how to work the system.

Player will have access to the movesets of: Froakie ,Frogadier, Greninja.

Is this okay? Y/N

Oh... That's pretty cool. No need to worry about missing out on Bounce by evolving Frogadier too early. 'Yes'.

Current Base Relations are: SpeedAttack=Special AttackHp=Defense=Special Defense

Select Nature?

Ah, the big problem with Greninja rears its ugly head. As far as PTA is concerned, Greninja has equal Attack and Special Attack. Normally this would be great, as I could build him as a mixed attacker. The problem though, is that in general mixed attackers aren't the way to go. Splitting points between them just makes you half as strong as someone who doesn't.

So what? Well... The way base relations work, I'm not allowed to bump any of Greninja's stats higher than his speed, and my health and defenses can't grow higher than my Attack OR my Special Attack.

Which means unless I want to be a glass cannon, I can't Not build Greninja as a mixed attacker.

That's where natures come in. They let me lower one stat by 2 (the equivalent of 20 in the video game) and raise another by 2. This can change the whole base relation thing around.

Obviously I'm lowering Special Attack. The problem is, that puts it at 8, and Hp, Defense, and Special defense are still sitting at 7.

Well, better hope I'm fast enough to dodge.

'Set nature to Jolly'

Current Base Relations are: SpeedAttackHpSpecial AttackDefense=Special Defense

'Accept'

Assign Stats:

Level: 5

Hp: 6 Atk: 6 Def:6 SAtk: 6 SDef:6 Spd:6

Points remaining: 29

...What.

That's the point spread for a trainer, not a pokemon. I should start with all of my points spent, based on the fact that I'm a Greninja. With a total like this... I'm about as strong as a level 5 Dragonite.

Well, assuming base relation still hold...

'Hp: 14 Atk: 16 Def: 6 SAtk: 7 SDef: 6 Spd: 16'

Acceptable.

Select Name to continue.

Looks like there's no rule against tied stats. Lucky me.

Alright. The last step is a name I guess... Ninja frog huh? Well, I guess I could pay homage to one of my favorite video games.

Here's to you Yosuke. Let's do this 'Jiraiya!'

The girl in front of me smiles. It's one of those kind, genuine smiles, filled with that warm sort of unconditional love you'd get from a parent or older sibling or soul mate. Before I can puzzle out what it means, there's a sharp pain in my arm. Huh, I guess I missed the terrifyingly large needles during my investigation.

Nuts.

And then everything went dark.