The girl woke up on a bed, looking up to the ceiling of her room. She lied there for a while, slightly dazed, before managing to push herself up and look around. The interior of the room was completely foreign to her- there was nothing she could recognize at all, not even the bed's sheets. And the view outside the window... it was like she was in a whole new world.
...oh. "Right..." she whispered, getting off the bed. There was a nearby mirror that she took a glance at. She looked just like the default male trainer from the games, except her body had breasts, was slimmer and curvy, and had long hair. And she definitely was a lot taller, too. A bit too tall, she supposed, but what would she know? Games are games.
Now known as Ignis, the girl grabbed her hat and put it on, rotating it just slightly sideways. Now she was ready for... well, whatever the world was going to throw at her.
Oh, and before she left... the girl remembered a classic starting feature for every game. She checked her new room's PC and withdrew a Potion, the healing item materializing in front of the screen and onto the desk. Grabbing it, she stuffed it within the bag lying next to the table, hung one of its arms on her shoulder, and walked downstairs.
"Ignis?" a mature voice called. "You're awake now?" the woman downstairs asked, looking up from the sink.
She stared briefly, before remembering who this probably was in the games. "Y-yes, mom," she hastily replied. Calling a stranger your mom feels kinda strange... she thought.
Her supposed mother smiled. "It's about time. Your friend's waiting at the professor's lab, as usual."
"Um, okay. Thanks, mom." Ignis walked down the stairs and past the dining table. She noticed there was a plain toast with butter on one dish, and another somewhat delectable plate of omelette with rice.
"You can have breakfast right now while I wash the other dishes. I'll have the toast later," her mother said.
Really? Sweet. Ignis was about to sit down in front of the nice meal, but she frowned mentally. But... that's not right. She was about to go on an adventure (probably?), leaving her mother for who knows how long? If anything, she remembered encountering the mother from her playthrough of the second generation games. She sure as hell missed her son, Red. Even if this wasn't her real mother, she was pretty sure she'd feel bad later for ditching her mother like this. And if anything, her counterpart- the real Ignis- probably wouldn't have appreciated this either. Ignis smiled, and decided against sitting down. "No, it's fine. I'm not feeling that hungry right now," she said.
The mother seemed rather surprised. "Are you sure? A growing teen like you needs lots of nutrients, you know?"
She shook her head with a smile. "No, I think you should have them both, mom. It's the least I can give to you before leaving."
Quiet for a while, her mother gave her a sad smile in defeat. "I guess you're right." She closed the tap and dried her hands, sitting down on a chair. "Even if you're grown up now, it still worries me slightly how you will fare on your journey..." Sighing, she clapped her hands together and prayed.
"I'll be going now, mom." Her mother nodded in response as Ignis headed out the house. She stopped and turned around to give her fake mother one last glance. "And... well, mom?"
The mother looked up again. "Yes, Ignis?"
Hesitant, Ignis finally showed a confident smile. She didn't know the relationship within her family, she didn't know whether the real Ignis actually liked her mother at all or not. But as a daughter, this was something she could at least do. "I love you, mom. Thanks for everything you've done." Despite the awkwardness of saying that to a complete stranger, she felt somewhat sad at leaving this kind-looking woman.
Her mother nodded. "Stay safe, Ignis."
The girl left without looking back, hoping her mother didn't cry or anything from that.
The first place she headed towards was the lab. She remembered in the games that the professor wasn't there, and that you had to attempt to go outside the town to trigger the first event, but she had something else she wanted to check out. Her friend, the one her supposed mother mentioned. She wanted to see if the game's Gary- or Blue- would really be as cocky and arrogant as they were shown to be.
When she pushed the door open, she was greeted with lots of artificial light. And a sight of many scientists conducting their research in peace. Or at least, it seemed peaceful. Also, the lab was a lot bigger than she expected. "Whoa, this place is huge..."
"Ah, Ignis! You're here!" one of the scientists called out. She put down her papers and ran over to the teen. "Grandpa's still at his house, but he'll be coming here soon. Why don't you come in and look over some of samples with me?" she asked.
Who the heck is this? she wondered. She didn't recall any female character that she should've been close with. Granted, there was that one female NPC in Professor Oak's lab, but that was just that- a mob NPC. And wait, did she just call the professor her grandpa? But that means... that this girl is supposed to be Gary!? "Uh, sure, Gary. Garia. Eh." Oh wait, Gary had a sister, she recalled. Maybe this was Daisy.
The scientist, with long brown hair, gave her an odd look. "Where'd you get those names from, some cartoons online?" she asked. Okay, I guess it's not Daisy. But who...? She then chuckled. "Stop being silly and get in here." Grabbing the teen by the arm, she dragged the black-haired girl inside and closed the door. Her rival dragged her towards a test tube to look inside it, where a small embryo of sorts was floating in an oddly blue liquid. "Look at this, Ignis. It's got small snubby arms now! It's growing quite fast for a mysterious lifeform..."
Wait, this definitely wasn't something she knew from the games. Ignis nodded as she directed her eyes somewhere else, all around the lab. There were a lot more scientists here than she remembered as well. There was still that weird machine she never understood in the lab, but there were even more machines scattered around as well.
"...Ignis? You seem distracted," the scientist girl that was probably her friend said. "Is something bothering you?" she asked.
"O-oh, um, nothing." Ignis quickly defended herself, faking a smile. "Just wondering what the ol' man's going to say," she said.
Her friend smiled. "Well, of course you'd be curious. Even I have no clue what he wants to tell everyone here."
The black-haired girl nodded. "Yeah. I bet he's got, uh, something amazing to show us!"
Agreeing completely with her, the brown-haired scientist squealed at the limitless possibilities. "Maybe he's getting another award... that ol' man of mine, yes!"
The door swung open and, along with the other scientists who were eager for their leader, Ignis turned around to see the classic old man she knew and respected. "Professor Oak!" she exclaimed at the same time as everyone else.
"Yes, I'm here," the old professor responded with a smile. "I'm sorry I was late. I just couldn't find where I placed some important things..." he explained, scratching his head sheepishly. Wasting no time, he closed the door and walked deeper into the lab, to an area Ignis recognized as the spot where he gives players the Starter Pokémon in the game. "I need everyone to gather around. Especially Ignis and Terra," he said.
Their curiosity rising rapidly, everyone stopped what they were doing. Those who were doing incredibly important things resumed their work, but with a faster pace as they couldn't help but wonder as well.
He sat down on a lone chair and looked at them. "As you all know, our researches have been advancing quite a lot these few years," he began. "We've discovered a lot about Pokémon themselves, and about the bonds between them and their trainers and its effects. It's quite amazing, really."
"I know, right?" a random scientist said. "Who knew Eevee's face can change to resemble their trainers? I never even noticed that with mine!"
Eevee's faces do what? Ignis felt incredulous. Was this a Pokédex entry in some game? Not that she ever checked it, but that kind of detail would've definitely been infamous on the Internet. Maybe it's from one of the newer games, she supposed.
Nodding, Oak let out a contented sigh. "I'm sure you all have to agree though, that a lot of these accomplishment were thanks to Ignis and my granddaughter, Terra."
A round of applause occurred all around her and the female scientist, the latter bowing and accepting all the praises, while she stood there in shock. I'm the professor's assistant here!? she asked herself. "T-thank you, everyone," she managed to squeeze out in the middle of all the congratulations. "It's been a huge, um, pleasure."
Professor Oak shook his head. "No, we thank you two for all the help you've been. And I had been thinking, what could I possible do for your birthdays? When you turned down the offer to go on a journey many years back, and said you wanted to help me with my research instead... boy, I was really glad and surprised."
"Y-yeah... I guess you'd be," the black-haired heroine said. I did what now?
"It really touched me, but thinking of all the experiences and thrill that you're missing out on... I think it's really unfair for the both of you. That's why," he paused and got up, walking over to his personal desk. He took a package from under his coat and, tearing the wrapping apart, he set the torn pieces on the table and walked back to them. "I present to you and Terra, these two Pokédex that my colleagues from other regions and I had developed together."
"G-grandpa, are you...?" her friend, Terra, rasped. "Are you really s-saying...?"
Oak nodded. "That's right, Terra. I believe it's time you two officially started your Pokémon journey, as adults."
Her brown-haired friend let out a loud squeal, capturing her grandfather in a tight hug out of sheer joy. "Grandpa! Thank you, thank you, thank you very much! I'm so happy!"
"T-there, there, Terra! A bit too tight with your hugs, now!" Oak rasped. He noticed Ignis staring at him, and smiled weakly. "W-what about you, Ignis? Or are you just simply speechless by this decision?" he asked. "I'm sorry for suddenly springing this onto you, but I really think you and my granddaughter deserves to explore the world out there."
The girl flinched. "O-oh, um... yeah! That just really surprised me, I didn't know how to... wow." Inside her mind, she had even more questions raised. Wait, what did he mean by adults? We're just ten years old kids! Is that really adult already!? "If it's what you think is right, then I suppose it's fine..."
"What're you saying, Ignis?" Terra said, wrapping an arm around her neck. "Weren't you initially the one most excited about the thought of a Pokémon adventure? Silly you!" she exclaimed, and laughed as she danced around with her friend in arm.
"That's right. And thus, with that said..." Oak suddenly raised an arm. "Happy eighteenth birthday, you two."
Party poppers exploded all around them. The other scientists had been preparing for this moment as well, and the two almost jumped in shock, haven't been expecting that.
I-it's today!? Eighteenth!? Ignis found it hard to keep up with the events. She feigned a smile as everyone began congratulating her, cheering for her, grabbing her hand and shaking it, all the party stuff. Terra seemed like she was having lots of fun, and after staring at her face for a while, the girl felt herself softening. Ah well. Might as well as enjoy this for now, she thought.
After the long party of celebrations, it was around afternoon when they finally decided they should leave. They had even been given an option to choose from the three Starter Pokémon, just like the games. Their other colleagues came with them to the entrance of Pallet Town, intent on seeing them off as well.
Professor Oak smiled and waved. "I really hope you two make the best out of your journeys," he said. "We're going to miss you two a lot while you're away from the lab."
"Don't worry, grandpa!" Terra exclaimed. "I'm sure we'll both be fine. After all, I got Ignis with me!" she said and hugged the girl.
"H-hey, you..." Ignis muttered.
"It's a shame your mother didn't want to celebrate with us though," the professor then said sadly. "But I guess I can understand how she feels. It's tough not crying in front of your own child," he said. "I hope you understand her feelings, Ignis."
The ravenette shook her head. "It's fine, I think I understand." She took a brief glance at her new house, wondering what her mother was doing now- her fake mother, that is. She only arrived in this world a few hours ago, and only interacted with her new mother for a few minutes- but she already felt somewhat sad at leaving the kind woman. Maybe she should see her one last time... but then again, she'd probably feel worse if this world's Ignis' mother cried because of her. "Please tell her I love her, professor." Turning around, she began walking away. "I promise I'll keep your granddaughter safe!"
Terra turned slightly red. "W-what, you're really going to be my protector? I can do that myself, stupid..."
Professor Oak laughed. "I'll make sure you hold on to your words, Ignis. Have a safe trip!"
"Ignis! Terra! Farewell, our great friends!" many of the scientists shouted.
The two smiled and waved back as they silently walked away.
"...Still, even though you told me before, I didn't think you'd pick that Bulbasaur instead."
"Y-yeah, well, despite liking fire... I guess I found myself wanting Bulbasaur instead."
"You're weird no matter how I see it, but you're definitely you."
I guess this world's Ignis had good taste, the girl supposed.
