Chapter 1: Brand New World. (Robert)
I had just bought Pokémon World Online, the latest VRMMO released. Being a fan of the Pokémon series, this game was a must have.
After making my avatar, a red-haired boy, and typing in my avatar's name, "Robert". I was transported to what looked like a city twice the size of New York. I started looking around at other people of all shapes and sizes
"What's going on?" I wondered.
Suddenly a masked figure appeared on top of the highest building.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to Pokémon World Online." A voice so loud and epic it was probably heard throughout the city.
"Is this part of the tutorial?" I thought while looking around again.
"I sure most of you have noticed by now that the log out button on your menu is missing. However, this is not a bug."
What?!
I immediately waved my hand to open the menu. Just as he had said, it was gone.
"What the hell is this!" "Let us out of here you bastard!" "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Various screams echoed throughout the city.
"Shut up you idiots!" I yelled, to shut everyone
Whether they liked it or not, this was the current situation. Yelling at this guy would get us nowhere. But what he said next even made me speechless.
"I would now like to take a moment to explain the newly added rules to this world. First, if your Pokémon's hp decreases to zero, it will die and vanish forever. This does not apply to official battles between other players, however. In addition, each trainer has a hp bar as well. If your hp bar drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted, and you will die"
The entire city fell dead silent after that last statement.
Die. That's impossible. This is a video game. You can't die in a video game. I kept trying to convince myself this, but I already knew the one fact that disproved my theory. Every word that man just said WAS REAL. There's no way anyone would take a joke that far.
"There is only one way to escape. You must beat the game. Obtain all 8 gym badges and defeat the Elite Four and you will then qualify for the world tournament. Win this tournament and you will find the secret to beat the game. Players, I wish you the best of luck."
After those words, my body was enveloped with a shining light.
What happened? I thought to myself while my head still felt dizzy. I looked around and saw what seemed like a small town filled with houses and one big building that said, "Rowan's Poke Lab".
I must have been teleported to a region in the game. I realized. I pulled up my menu and then went to the world map. The layout seemed very similar to the Sinnoh region from the 4th generation of Pokémon… but it looked bigger, as if the region was doubled in size.
So, what now? Almost as if to answer my question, the quest tab on the menu came into my line of sight. I tapped it and my current mission came up. "Go to Lab and obtain starter Pokémon." As I looked around, I saw most players were still shaken by the "death game" factor newly added to our misfortunes.
I ran to the lab. With things the way they are, feeling sorry for myself and crying would get me nowhere. Those that are too scared right now have a choice to make: fight or die. Sulking around would only lead to the latter of those two options.
Upon entering the lab, I met Professor Rowan. He led me to a table with three poke balls on it. I now had a choice of which starter to pick.
Piplup
Turtwig
Chimchar
Almost instinctively I chose Chimchar. Fire types had never let me down before and they wouldn't let me down now.
Running out I noticed something had been added to my item bag. I pulled up the item tab and 2 slots were filled. one said "poke balls 5x" on it, the usual start for any Pokémon game. The other said "mirror".
A mirror? Why put a mirror there?
After pulling it out, the shocking truth answered my question. My face no longer had that of the avatar I made. Instead it was replaced by my real face. The red hair I had given my avatar instead had my natural black colored hair. The outfit was still the same though: a blue denim jacket and black pants. I started freaking out then I started putting pieces together, the nerve gear, I remembered when I logged on, I was asked to touch my shoulders and legs, that's how this game knows my height and my measurements.
Well now was no time to be admiring my looks. I headed straight for the woods leading to Jubilife City.
Training along the way went smoothly. I caught a Starly almost immediately upon entering the woods. After battling against the wild Pokémon, Chimchar was at level 10 and Starly was at level 8. My money had increased by a decent amount too from battling the mobs of wild Pokémon. I was just about to continue now that Chimchar and Starly were at full health (thank God for potions) when I heard someone call an attack.
"Piplup use Bubble!"
I followed the origin of the commotion through the army of trees. A few wild Pokémon appeared but my stronger Chimchar and Starly went right through them with ease. I ran as fast as I could towards where the commotion was.
He looked about 16 years old. Long brown hair, pale skin, glasses, wearing a black T-Shirt with a picture of Dig-Dug with long jeans his boots were dark red with black stripes at the side. He had a Piplup out, which seemed to be in bad shape. Its hp must be near its limit. The reason wasn't hard to figure out. After all, there were six other trainers surrounding him. But he wasn't looking he was going to run away, and neither was his Pokémon.
"Bring it on!" he screamed. His Piplup gave the same look of determination.
"We told you already. Just hand over that Piplup and we'll be on our way." One of the players surrounding her said. He and his five buddies chuckled just like the criminal type of players they were portraying.
"Big man, 6 on 1 no matter Piplup can do it " the guy exclaimed. "Take your best shots!"
"Alright everyone. Take that Piplup out!" said the one that seemed to be the head of the group.
At his command, all six of them called out commands to their Pokémon, which seemed to be made up of 4 Turtwig and 2 Chimchar.
I couldn't take this any longer. "Chimchar use ember! Starly use wing attack!" I commanded.
The group of six was stunned by the sudden appearance of a new trainer. Their Pokémon got swept up in my barrage attack. An opening for the guy to escape was now visible.
"Hurry! Run!" I yelled to the guy.
While he was stunned by my surprise appearance at first, he gave me the stink eye, then grasped the situation immediately, reluctantly. He returned his Pokémon to its ball and ran off
"Why you! What's your problem man!" yelled their boss who had finally recovered from his shock.
I walked a few steps a spoke "If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a bunch of guys trying to act tough by ganging up on beginners. If you want Pokémon, go out and catch them like respectable trainers."
"And you think you can take us punk!" said one of the thugs.
"I can give you a run for your money. But first you got to catch me!" I yelled as I fled into the woods. To be honest I doubt I could take them all on at once. My only chance was to escape or get to a terrain that gave me more if an advantage.
I ran through the trees with my Chimchar and Starly next to me. The thugs however weren't going to give me an easy time though. They were not too far behind, commanding their Pokémon to attack. At least that girl was safe now, I thought, but what am I going to do?
I reached the end if the trees, but there wasn't a town there. I was standing right on the edge of a steep, rocky hill.
I had no choice. I sled down the hill to a ledge. But going any further down was out of the question. It was a 90-degree angle going down, and at least a five-story drop. My hp would hit zero for sure if I fell. My luck was running out as the gang chasing me slid down after me and cornered me on both sides. Running was no longer an option.
"Nowhere left to run punk" said the leader. "This'll teach you not to but into other people's business!" With that they all ordered attacks for their Pokémon. With Chimchar on one side and Starly on the other, neither of them would last through these attacks. And since this wasn't an official battle requested via the menu, once their hp hit zero they would die.
Is this how it ends?
The thought flashed through my mind. This was no longer a Pokémon battle; this was a fight for survival, and I was on the losing end. There was no way I'd last through their group attack. But what happened next betrayed the expectations of both me and my six opponents.
"Piplup, use bubble!"
A shower of bubbles rained down on the thugs to my right, damaging their Pokémon and stopping their attack. Shocked I looked up. I saw the guy I had just rescued at the top if the cliff. But something was different. His Piplup seemed fully healed, as raring to go as he was, and kept spitting out bubbles at its targets.
The gang could only dodge as many bubbles as they could. In shock, two of them slipped and fell off the narrow ledge we were all standing on, plummeting to their deaths. Once they hit the trees, they shattered like glass. Their Pokémon that were still on the ledge also shattered following their trainers to their grave.
Now was my best chance! Immediately I turned to the enemies on my right and gave Chimchar a command.
"Chimchar use ember at their feet" I yelled.
A flurry of embers swept towards the three on my right. Dancing at my mercy, all three of them tripped and fell, like the two before them. All that remained was their leader that I turned around to face.
"You'll pay for this someday!" He snarled at me and ran away along the ledge in retreat.
I returned Chimchar and Starly to their poke balls and climbed the cliff towards the other trainer.
"I guess I should thank you." He said.
"I would've been a goner if you hadn't shown up" I replied.
"Name's Leonard."
We pounded it.
"I'm Robert. Nice to meet you."
"Likewise,"
"So, I guess I'll see you around?" I told him as I started walking. He caught up with me.
"Actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to travel together. Not temporarily I mean, but as a traveling partner, like Luke Cage and Iron Fist, Tim Drake Robin and Connor Kent Superboy."
A party? It made sense. We could get to cities easier and faster as a team. But still I hesitated. I had planned to travel on my own without building relationships with people. I didn't want to experience the sorrow it would bring if one of them died. But at the same time, I felt that I couldn't say no. I decided I had no choice.
"Sure. Let's do it." I replied.
"Alright let's get going then" Leonard exclaimed cheerfully.
We traveled through the woods without any problems. As a result of our battle with that gang of six, our Pokémon's levels had gone up quite a bit. We reached Jubilife a little before nightfall. On the way there we had slowly gotten to know each other, and we both agree that tomorrow we go shopping for survival gear. Leonard even caught a Shinx. After a little bit of training between his Shinx and my Chimchar to level Shinx up, we finally reached Jubilife city.
To say the city was breathtaking would be exagerating. Multiple buildings rose out of the ground and illuminated the night sky. And that was honestly just the start. People filled the streets, both players and NPCs. The Pokémon center and poke mart were so much taller than the ones in Sandgem Town. All together, the city seemed to give off an atmosphere that seemed like a very light violet aura.
Leonard and I found the Pokémon center, healed our Pokémon, and went to the nearest hotel. To save money we rented a room with two beds instead of two rooms with one bed each.
We decided to crash so we could head out early tomorrow.
I used the menu and changed into my pajama outfit which was just a black shirt and pants. Changing in PWO only required using the menu and changing your clothing.
We got into our separate beds and she drifted off to sleep, but for some reason I couldn't fall asleep. My mind was too busy thinking about all that happened today. I got trapped in a game, met Leonard, fought for my life. A part of me is hoping this nightmare will end, that I'd wake up the next day in my own bed and see the real world again.
And this is only the first day of this death game. What other things are going to come my way as this game progresses. Lost in thought, I eventually drifted off to sleep.
A/N: I hope we all enjoyed that battle. As always, reviews and comments are welcome.
