Chapter 1: A 'Unique' Encounter
Author Notes: (AnerianJames) Hello, everyone who decides to pick up this story! It is good to see anyone who looks at it, and I would love to have some reviews about ways I can improve, and I would like to thank Dimension Distorter for joining me in this endeavor. Anyway, I'll let all of you get on to the story, so please, enjoy the story
(Dimension Distorter's POV) Hello, everyone. To those of you who know who I am, yes. I'm helping a new buddy of mine (The same buddy who introduced me to 'This Bites!') in creating his very first-story ever! I'm really excited for it too because the first story, is usually the toughest, in my opinion, for any author. It's so that said author can discover what their brand of writing is, how they're going to go about character study and plot in their own interpretation. As to why I'm here, AnerianJames reached out and asked for help...so I'm co-writing! That, and giving some advice on how to not make rookie mistakes but the majority is all him. Maybe it won't be one of the best stories but no one ever starts off as an intermediate writer. If James has any words then he can feel free to add in his own input. Besides that, enjoy the first chapter to the first story.
My name is Darke Eon, and, until I was about 17, I was completely closed off. I refused to socialize with anyone else my age, until I met an unusual girl with pink hair who somehow convinced me to follow her. I don't know why I did, maybe it was her magnetic aura, but I couldn't not follow her. If I tried, then I would get a small headache until I continued following. After a while, we reached a park, and I got a message on my phone from one of my best friends.
"Hope you have fun in the Pokéworld," I read this and stared at it uncomprehendingly, before looking up straight into the face of a Mew; in a room that was covered in white with a few pictures and paintings covering the walls, and in a whole new outfit. In my new outfit, I am a 6ft, 140 pound lightweight who loves to read, run, and annoy the hell out of other people. I am wearing a pair of black sneakers, black cargo pants with yellow stripes on them, a dark purple long sleeve shirt under muscle sweater, along with dark red fingerless gloves, and a pair of over-the-head bluetooth headphones around my neck. A quick search of my pockets brought out my ipod with over 270 songs on it, and a couple small metallic balls that I have no idea what to do with. "Where the hell am I, and why is there an actual Mew in front of my face?" I ask, not expecting an answer.
Suddenly, I hear something land on the ground behind me, and I immediately spin around to see a guy with tan skin, white hair, and fine clothes on. "I had Mew bring you here."
"And who are you? And does Mew have a name other than the generic species name?" I ask, my mind lagging behind a bit.
The man smiles, then responds with "I am Arceus, and Mew goes by whatever name she chooses, but lately, due to one of her brothers, she has been going by the name of Mira."
"Ok. so, if you two are real, then I must be in the Pokéverse. If I am in the Pokéverse, then either you got bored, or I'm needed for something, and I get to go on an epic Pokémon journey." I mumble to myself, causing Mira to giggle.
Arceus smiles again, before nodding. "We just need you to do one thing. Get strong. Make one of the greatest teams in the world so that when you are needed, you can be prepared. And rest assured, you will be needed. Now, is there anything you want before I send you off to your new life?"
"I want to understand Pokéspeech," is my immediate response, causing Arceus to blink, before he sighs and creates a small portal, prompting Mira to shove me through to a brand new world.
I wake up groaning, announcing to whoever or whatever is nearby that I'm awake, and really hungry, going by the similar growls my stomach is giving out.
"Hello? Is there anyone here?" My voice echoes around the room, which looks to be filled with machines of a variety of functions, none of which I know of. I hear a door click open and light fills the room, causing me to cover my eyes and squint towards the old-looking man walking in.
"Hello, my name is Professor Rowan, and I am this region's Pokémon Professor. Would you mind telling me your name and why you appeared on my doorstep, unconscious?" He stops in front of me, letting me get a good look at him.
"My name is Darke Eon, and as for why I am here, I honestly don't remember how I got here" I say as I stand up, wincing at the small lie while stretching out my muscles while the good Professor was taken aback by the statement.
"You don't remember? Amnesia?" He said mulling over the words that he just heard from the teen.
"Not entirely sure myself to be honest but I do have two questions for you. Can I become a Pokémon Trainer, and can I have some food?" My question is met with a stunned silence, causing me to look towards Rowan to see him immersed in his thoughts. "Hello? Professor?"
"Ah, yes, I'm sorry, I was lost in thought for a moment. If you would follow me," The professor turns around starts walking toward the door he arrived from, prompting me to follow him. "So, you say you don't remember how you came to be on my doorstep, yet you seem to know that I usually give beginner Trainers their starter Pokémon. How is this?" I blink in response to his question, frantically forming a response that would leave as little room for questions as possible.
"Well, I may have forgotten how I came to be here, but I still am from this region, Professor. I've met some of the Trainers that you sent out, and I dreamed of one day becoming one," My response is delivered quick, all but shutting down any other questions he may have other than the simple one he probably asks every would-be Trainer.
"Well if that's the case...what Pokémon would you like to start with?" The professor's honest question causes me to freeze, much to his confusion.
"I'm actually here. I'm actually doing this," I mumble quietly to myself, crossing my arms and looking down. "I can't believe that I'm actually getting a Pokémon, after all that time spent dreaming about this day, it's finally happening," I look up with one of the biggest smiles I can muster, before responding with an enthusiastic "Riolu!" to answer his question. Professor Rowan rose an eyebrow to me and gave a 'hm', as if he couldn't believe what he just heard. Come on, asking for a Riolu couldn't have been that crazy.
"A very interesting choice, young man. Whenever there are special cases where Trainers get a different Pokémon, they usually get one that is of the more common variety or less difficult to train. And even though Riolu are native to this region, they are still pretty rare to encounter." Rowan stated as we entered his kitchen, which was a pretty spacious one at that. There were a few people, some of his assistants I'm from the coats they wore, who seemed to be making batches of Pokemon food. They turned to his direction and greeted him while also taking notice to me. "Could a couple of you whip young Darke here a meal? He also aims to be a new Trainer and showed up at the door famished. I'm also going to help him pick out his first Pokémon," he finished while patting my back. Or striking it. Geez, this old dude was heavy handed for his age, however old that was. I'll guess early sixties or something.
"Sure thing, sir," A girl assistant said while her and a random guy assistant got to work on my lunch. I couldn't help but grin a bit at having other people make food for me. It was a different feeling than having your mom do it. As we walked away with Rowan in the lead I was brought back to his earlier statements.
"Hey, what did you mean by what you said before? You don't have any Riolu here? Or are you saying I'm gonna have a hard time raising one?" I asked trying to hide any form of agitation in my voice but the guy just glanced at me with that stoic expression on his face. God, that was actually pretty intimidating.
"Actually, those aren't the cases. I do have a Riolu here at the lab that I can give you. Also, it's just that Riolu is known as the Emanation Pokemon. They can sense the emotions of beings around it so with that form of ability, they can tell who are hostiles and who are friendly, which will determine if they reside in a certain habitable area or not. Also, Riolu can only Evolve when it has a strong connection with someone, and it only happens during the day, on one hand and on the other hand, they need to properly hone their capabilities with their control over Aura. Sometimes, newly Evolved Lucario don't learn the move Aura Sphere because their Aura abilities aren't refined enough. If your aim is to have a powerful Lucario, then those two requirements are a must."
Damn. Way to throw down my excitement like that. I just wanted a Riolu because, in my opinion, coolest Sinnoh Pokémon ever. At least until it evolves into Lucario but then I'm told all of that crap? Though I guess in a way, I'm glad he told me what it would take to raise and train one. Unlike the games where you just need to keep battling until you're a certain level or just get your Friendship up by walking with your Pokémon in your Party, I'm really going to have to put in actual effort to care and raise this Pokémon. It'll be like having a super-powered pet that's as smart as you are and can break your bones if you screw around with it in the wrong ways. Maybe I'm not the most social guy out there but I know I can get a Pokémon to like me a lot so that solves the Evolution problem. The 'controlling Aura' and Aura Sphere thing though? That'll be a bit more tricky. Eh, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
He led me out to the back which had to be the largest ranch that I had ever seen! Well, it was the first ranch I ever seen but you get the point. And there was a helluva lot of Sinnoh Pokémon too, which was awesome. Wanna know what was even more awesome then that?
("Dude, I'm telling you, that cute Buizel was eyeing me like crazy! She definitely wants me.") A male Luxio said in a smug tone as he spoke to a another Luxio, who was just laughing at the news.
("Pick up the pace, you all! We're going to be going through double the drills for the morning!") A female Staraptor exclaimed to a group of Staravias and Starlies who just gave their own confirmations to her, as they flew over head.
("You can't catch me!")
("Yes, I can! Just watch!") A Pachirisu was running from a Bidoof. Weird, they sounded like kids so...guess that meant they were. And they were playing tag.
Oh, yeah. Being able to understand Pokémon kicks so much more ass than just meeting them in person. Granted the first Pokémon I saw was Mew, or Mira apparently, and I was pretty chill about that. Even more so at Arceus showing up and having a human body. I looked to Rowan wondering how he would react if he had my ability and knew just what all of these guys were saying. If Meowth from Team Rocket is any indication, Pokémon have conversations just like we humans do, if a bit more Pokémon-esque in some aspects. Like, I just heard about some Ursaring talking about mating various female Ursaring in his group for a strong breed of children last Spring. No idea if that was normal or if that guy is just one massive pervert.
"Follow me. Riolu should be in her usual area training with some of the other Fighting-types," He spoke as he walked while I followed as usual. Wait, did he say 'her'? I'm not griping whatever gender of Riolu I get but it's the fact that he said 'her' instead of 'it'. When you watch the anime enough, you realize that people don't care to describe their Pokémon by their gender because they either don't know it or it's just the norm to call them 'its', I'm guessing. Oh, or in certain circumstances like variations between male and females, like a Pikachu with a straight tail being male and a curved one being female.
"Professor...you said 'her'?" I asked. Sure, I'm going to pick his brain for the reason.
"Yes. The Riolu is female. Is that an issue?" He didn't sound like he thought I had a problem but he could just be masking it well. I shook my head.
"No. It's just that...I know people usually address Pokémon as 'its' instead of their gender's like people. How come you did it just now?" Of course, I didn't think that I probably dropped into an AU or something. Oh well, I already asked. And to my surprise, Rowan chuckled, like I told a joke. Must be back on his good side incase I was skewing off a few seconds ago.
"Funny you should mention that. See, I'm personal friends with Professor Samuel Oak in the Kanto region. And a few months ago, he told me that the elder brother to his town of Pallet's renown Trainer, Ash Ketchum, had returned after many years away from home, ever since the boy was a toddler. Young Ash didn't even remember him since he was a baby at the time, so it's understandable. Anyway, Professor Oak told me that Rey has a strong belief that Pokémon deserve just as much identity as us humans. He gave all of his Pokémon names and addresses every Pokémon by their gender. Samuel felt so moved by the boy's feelings towards Pokémon that he began to even address Pokémon by their gender as 'him' and 'her' instead of 'it'. I even personally met both Ash and Rey not too long as the two set off with another new Trainer from our own Sandgem Town. Now the three are traveling together. Yet I discovered what Samuel was speaking of with Rey's impressions of Pokémon. I decided that I would try and emulate his thoughts and give all kinds of Pokémon more identity."
His response makes me smile, anticipating the time that I will get to meet this Rey. "Do you know how far they are?" I ask him, completely curious, seeing as how Ash never had a brother in the show, and wondering if he was still Eternally Ten™ in this world.
"I haven't gotten a call from Ash yet, so they should still be heading to Jubilife City. When he calls, I'll tell him that you are heading his way," The old-looking Professor responds easily. "Ah, here we are," he states as he stops in front of a large clearing that looks devoid of Pokémon and has a few craters scattered around from various Pokémon attacks.
"Where are-" my question gets interrupted as a Riolu goes flying past, yelling at the Machop that is following it.
("Is that all you've got?") the Riolu taunts the Machop, goading him to attack, letting her easily dodge and counterattack, hitting him square on the face with a solid punch that sends him flying towards Darke, causing the Professor to yell out in surprise.
I catch him and set him back down quickly, mostly unmoved from the force of the flying Machop. "Oi, be careful where your punches send people!" I yell angrily at the Riolu, who just glares back.
("And you be careful about who you're yelling at!") she responds quickly, glaring at me.
Professor Rowan just sweatdrops and looks between us, watching us but heads, sparks flying. "Darke, this is the Riolu I was going to give you for your journey," he says calmly, waiting to see what we would do.
Immediately, I stop pushing my head against hers and walk over to Rowan, letting her fall to the ground, face down. Meanwhile, she gets up from the ground and stares at Rowan, uncomprehend what his words mean for her. ("You can't be serious! I'm going with HIM!? Why him? Can it be someone else?") her seemingly desperate cries fall on ears that can't understand what she is saying.
As I leave the Professor's lab with my new Riolu safely in her Pokéball, and black-colored Sinnoh Pokedex, I feel the need to let her come out from her Pokéball. After I pass into the first route, I release her just to be immediately attacked by her, barely bringing up my arm to block in time. "What's your name? And don't worry, I know what you are really saying." She doesn't respond, just doing her level best to kill me with a stare, or at least get me to release her. "If you tell me your name, I can give you some advice that would improve your fighting style," I say, sighing as she blinks and steps back a bit, staring at me in a small bit of confusion.
"My name is Rae. How can you understand me?" she asks bluntly, expecting an answer immediately, which I am happy to give.
"Arceus gave me the ability to understand Pokéspeech as a favor, because he took me from my world and shoved me into this one." I answer, completely serious. I think she can sense this, because she doesn't immediately call bullshit even though it looks as if she really wants too. She just stared at me for a while and tried to figure me out though she didn't seem to find any trace of me lying, I'm guessing.
"That is the craziest piece of bullshit I ever heard," she said with a deadpan, which made me sweatdrop. Holy crap, I could actually feel myself doing it...and then it vanished! Crazy anime-based universe!
"It's the truth! Do you sense me lying?" I asked her with a glare but she just glared back and crossed her arms.
"I never said you were lying...which I can't believe you aren't. I just said that what you told me was some crazy bullshit. You're telling me that...you met Arceus in some other world and he sent you to this world and he's also the reason you can understand Pokespeech? How else would you expect someone to take that, and to take it seriously, no matter what your Aura says?"
"...Okay, maybe you have a point there. But like I said, that's what happened. Take that as you will, Rae." I said while shrugging as she side and placed her face in a paw.
"Out of all the potential Trainers, I get the weirdest one in the world. Okay, fine. Whatever. I'll just have to go along with all of this and do my best to make the most out of it." Rae said, not sounding in anyway enthusiastic. Hopefully, we could actually grow to be proper partners down the road but if this was the best amount of cooperation I was going to get then I wasn't gonna turn it down. As we continued on our way, I couldn't help but think of the things that I would experience during my time here. Would I change anything large or small or if I was gonna be sent back home after the Pokemon League or after Team Galactic's collective asses were kicked. I guess only time would tell.