Rewritten: 2019/08/28.

(Previous title: Classic Memories and White Titans)

"That's all... that I... could find."

The sound of fingers pressing various keys in annoyance echoed throughout the small room. Stretching on for around five to six seconds, the onslaught of button pressing was brought to an end with one loud pressing of an 'Enter' button. Behind the slim fingers, a raven-haired teen sighed with relief and sat back for a while, before a notification sound played from her laptop.

She growled and leaned back towards the screen to read the new message.

"Need more answers... oh, for fuck's sake," she then hissed and resumed her conversation with her acquaintance- if it could be called a conversation at all. "Do... the rest... yourself."

Another loud slam on the 'Enter' button.

Fed up, she quickly navigated her mouse to the system button, clicked it to reveal a 'log off' button, then clicked that.

The girl sat back in her chair again, letting out another sigh. "Good riddance. If you want help, I'll help, but I'm not going to do the whole work for you, ya fucking moron..." she murmured.

Now that she had contributed to her friend's work, she figured there weren't any grounds for complaints as she pretty much did help and can't be called a selfish jerk for not offering help, or anything of that sort. In the first place, given work should be done by the one assigned to it anyways.

She shook her head and smiled. It's time for... for...

"...huh."

For what? There wasn't anything for her to do right now. Music? She had been listening to the same song on repeat for hours. Games? She had just exited a game earlier, prior to helping her friend with their homework. Art? She already gave up after being dissatisfied with the way her digital art piece turned out.

Sighing, she looked up at the ceiling. Wasn't there anything this bode girl could spend her time on?

"...ugh..."

That settled it. She got up and searched through her closet, and pulled out a light red jacket. Although it was summer, she loved the sensation of her favorite jacket's fabric against her skin. That, and hoodies are awesome. She chuckled to herself and looked towards the door. With nothing better to do, there shouldn't be any problem with her taking a walk.

What could possibly go wrong?

...

Who was it who made the phrase 'what could possibly go wrong?'

And more importantly, who was it who started the belief that it was a jinxing term that, once uttered, will tempt karma to mess up the speaker's life right away?

Why was she even wondering about this? Well, it was because at this very moment, she was staring straight at an old woman, hooded, sitting in front of a small game shop she often frequented. The old woman had called out to her before she could enter the shop, and took out a box. What was the box filled with?

Games. Not just any games- but they were cartridges of Pokémon games of each region, starting from the third generation's Red, Blue, and Green remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen.

That told her that, despite having uttered such a cursed phrase within her head, the deities above must favor her or something.

What sort of luck must anyone have, to find a woman selling Pokémon games of all regions?

...well, actually, it wasn't all regions. It was only up to the remake of the third generation's main region, Hoenn. Notably, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

That was quite understandable, she supposed, as at the current time of this lucky meeting, Pokémon Sun and Moon had just recently been released. It wasn't really likely that some random old lady would have the latest games. And now that she thought about it, if this old lady did have the game, there was no way she would've already finished the games and be willing to sell it.

Okay, so that asides, her options. To buy this box of childhood memories and new memories, or to abandon it.

Her mind filled itself with pain as she tried to decide.

"Ugh... to buy or not to buy... such is the words of Shakespeare..." she muttered, completely abandoning all common sense and knowledge she ever learnt from school.

Then... "Oh, these are free," the old woman said with a chuckle.

She froze. Then she blinked once, twice, or maybe even thrice.

"...huhuhwhat?" the girl said quietly.

"You heard me," the old woman said. "You can have this box for free."

She blinked again. "You're... you're kidding me."

"Nope," was the reply she got, coupled with an amused old-person laugh.

The girl then looked around. "Nnnnno way. This can't be real. Where's the camera?"

Another chuckle. "It's not a prank. I'd like you to take this off my hands, for free."

Her expression of disbelief slowly morphed into a smile.

There was only one correct answer to give here.

"...ffffffucking sold!"

...

Minutes later, she was back at home, in the safe confinement of her room. A happy grin glued itself tight on her lips as she excitedly opened the box she received for free. The girl examined her new Pokémon games with glee- this was officially the best day of her life.

Even better, the old woman had thrown in some necessary consoles for the games too- all for free! So now she had a new Nintendo DS (for both the GameBoy and DS era games) and a new Nintendo 3DS... not to be confused with the confusingly named New Nintendo 3DS, of course, but that wasn't really important.

Now, a trivial dilemma invaded her thoughts. In what order should I play these games...? she wondered.

On one hand, she'd love to play the latest installments right now, the remakes of Hoenn. She still thought it was a shame she couldn't get Pokémon Sun and Moon, but at least she could now play the remakes she never got a chance to buy.

On the other hand, the girl felt it'd be extremely satisfying to relive her childhood again through the third generation remakes FireRed and LeafGreen, and gradually climb her way through the regions and generations. After all, she had all the time to play the games since she was currently spending her eternal summer vacation as a NEET. College starts for her in a bit less than a year, but really, who cares about that?

"...right. FireRed/LeafGreen it is!" the girl eventually decided and, for her own dramatic needs, raised a fist as if to signify some sort of victory. The girl then grabbed her new Nintendo DS console, which was an odd shade of red (or orange?), then plopped in the FireRed cartridge into its GameBoy slot. She quickly turned on the power and watched the screen light up, feeling nostalgic. "Man, I miss my old DS."

Everything she was seeing filled her with happy memories of the past. The Game Freak splash screen, the exciting introduction battle between the Nidorino and Gengar, the title theme with the theme song and the Charizard... she missed them all.

I wonder if, in another world, my team back then is doing well... she wondered, chuckling slightly. How silly- there's no such thing as other worlds, after all.

The girl smiled and skimmed through the controls. Then, the long introduction text came.

'In the world which you are about to enter, you will embark on a grand adventure with you as the hero.

Speak to people and check things wherever you go, be it towns, roads, or caves. Gather information and hints from every source.

New paths will open to you by helping people in need, overcoming challenges, and solving mysteries.

At times, you will be challenged by others and attacked by wild creatures. Be brave and keep pushing on.

Through your adventure, we hope that you will interact with all sorts of people and achieve personal growth. That is our biggest objective.

Press the A Button, and let your adventure begin!'

She pressed the 'A' button.

' '

All she received was a blank text box screen. "...huh." The girl examined her DS from all angles. Is this thing broken? The girl then blinked. "Wait... a box of games and two consoles for free..."

Text started appearing again.

'Wait a bit longer. Preparations are being made.'

"...that wasn't in the original game," she whispered. Oh no. I should've realized there was something fishy. She sighed with annoyance as she put the console down, realization coming to her. This... was definitely a hacked game. Even worse, a hacked, buggy game. This wasn't the kind of childhood memory relieving she wanted... this was... why, this was an insult! ...or at least, she supposed it could possibly be an insult in some form, she just couldn't quite grasp the exact details yet.

But as long as she lived, this shall be an insult to her!

...right, cut down the mental drama, we have issues to attend to, the girl thought to herself and looked back at the screen. "A fake or hacked game. Great." She blinked. "...might as well as see how well they made this."

After a few more seconds, text appeared again.

'Preparations are done. Brace yourself.'

"...drama queens," she muttered. However, this went unnoticed by her for a short while, but the room began to darken. Eventually, when she noticed how her 'new' console's screen was glowing, the girl looked around her room. "...that's odd. I don't remember the room being this dark..." Then, she noticed that her lights were on. "...is the light bulb slowly burning out...?"

To her confusion, the darkness was growing.

And maybe she was extremely tired, but it almost looked like ominous amethyst swirls were under her feet.

The girl, remaining quiet, slowly narrowed her eyes at the ground.

She wasn't mistaken- a giant, odd, dark purple swirl was forming and growing under her feet. One would have almost thought it was a portal, if not for the fact that that was something a delusional idiot would think in this sort of situation. She simply summed it up as her being tired.

Suddenly, more text.

An eerie, mysterious sound played from somewhere unknown as she looked back down to the screen.

'Don't mind the room. This isn't fake.'

The girl blinked. "...wait, did the DS just-"

Suddenly, in less than a second, the smug looking face of a familiar Ghost-type Pokémon appeared on the screen and stretched outside the console, its mouth widening. Her brain hadn't even comprehended anything that was happening yet when her vision suddenly turned dark, coupled with the sound of strong teeth clamming shut.

And for a short while, an intense burning sensation enveloped her body.

White.

Everything was white.

All around her, it was a never ending spread of emptiness, with nothing for her eyes to set on. When she woke up, she turned left, she turned right, she looked up and she looked down, but she couldn't escape what she supposed was the emptiness of heaven. The fresh pain that tingled across her body, although it lasted less than a second, was still vividly remembered in her memories.

If she hadn't died, there just wasn't any other explanation for what the hell could've happened to her.

That DS she bought... it wasn't only a fake, it was an outright weapon, she figured.

"Well, fuck. Conned by an old lady. This is just humiliating," she remarked to herself.

After a moment of silence, the girl rubbed her chin. What's there for a dead lonely girl to do in heaven asides from thinking about recent events?

...on a side note, it seems she could move around, and her body still exists.

...now that she thought about it... the girl looked down at her body once more.

No clothing.

Face flushed red, she quickly covered herself and looked around.

No life in sight.

She sighed with relief. "Safely nude in heaven."

Suddenly she felt several presences around her.

"Oh, look! A new arrival! Heeey!"

"Careful. We don't want to scare her off now."

"Oh, then my muscles should be enough to get her attention!"

"Don't. You'll just sicken all of us."

"M-maybe she's hungry."

"She probably craves ANSWERS! Ahaaahahahahaha! Funny me!"

"..."

Suddenly, seven silhouettes faded into her sights, surrounding her in a circle. They weren't just normal silhouettes either, but gigantic human-shaped white... 'shadows'... seemingly standing or floating together, as if in a conference.

"What the fuck!?" the girl accidentally screamed upon them appearing out of nowhere.

One of the pure white giants recoiled "Whoa. This one's got a foul mouth," it said. She noticed that although the giant was pure white, its face was marked with the roman numeral of VII.

Another one, marked with the number IV, tilted its head a bit. "Oh, come on. She's just scared of us, give her a break. I mean, look at our sizes."

"F-four's got a point there... and, and she probably lacks the energy to be calm, and maybe needs food..." another giant, labelled with the number VI, said.

Then, a giant with the number II scoffed. "Nonsense! The only thing you need to stay calm is power! Raw, muscly, power!"

"Uhh, that asides," the one numbered III interrupted, "but isn't this kinda strange? How is she here at all...?"

"She must be a chosen one!" the one with the number I shouted. "Maybe she's the hero! Hero of... well, something! But she's amazing for sure!"

The girl slowly felt her fear evaporate. These giants are... she sighed with relief. Having grasped the basics of each's (assumed) personality, they didn't seem to be carnivorous giants bent on eating people like that anime or manga series that she wasn't particularly a fan of. What was it called? Attack of the Titans? Uh, something like that. She shrugged her thoughts off and looked to the most quiet one, the giant numbered with the number V.

So far it hasn't made a comment on her yet, nor has it participated in its acquaintances'... conversation.

As if responding to her thoughts, it leaned forward a bit. "Girl. You must be really confused right now."

I-is it talking to me? the girl wondered. She then recalled she was the only human girl here, so of course he was talking to her! Stupid me. "Uh... yeah. Yeah, I guess so."

"Wait..." IV said. "I'm sensing something off... like... she's not panicking..."

"Not too surprising," the girl replied. "I mean, what's there to expect in heaven after you die?" she said, feeling particularly brave today.

It's not really that common for people to get used to giant titans as fast as she did, after all.

III leaned forward slightly, a 'shadowy' white hand sprouting from its right... 'shoulder', to rub its chin. "Hm. Would you look at that. Seems like she has her memories intact."

"Hey, so how did it feel?" I asked. The girl raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you know, dying the way you did. We've only been observing you since, like, some minutes or almost half an hour ago, but man. That Gengar jump scare must have gave you a super duper strong heart attack or... something."

...Gengar? The girl frowned. That's a... huh? "...wait, you were observing me?"

"Yeah! We've been observing you!" I continued. "I don't remember much for some strange reason, but all of us have been observing you for quite some time. Seems like we only remember up to a short moment ago though."

"...uh huh." Rubbing her chin, she tried to piece everything she knew together... which wasn't much, but it was enough to draw some conclusions. "So you lot... you're working for that scammer old hag, aren't you!?"

Silence.

Then the titans exchanged glances. "Old hag?"

"An old woman. An old human woman, I assume."

"What's she going on about? I think she's gone crazy."

"L-like I said... consumption of food required to think normally."

"Hey, I can hear you!" the girl yelled. "Jeez, rude much... but okay, so I can sort of tell you seven aren't working for her. I'll let that go then."

"...well, actually," IV said, "it might be possible. I seem to feel familiar when you speak of an old human female... maybe we might be acquainted with her at some point in the past, but that's lost with our memories now."

The girl frowned. "Lost memories...?"

Some other titans nodded. "Yeah. Like One said, we only recall up to a few minutes ago when we noticed we were observing you."

"...right." The girl sighed and sat down, then remembering she was naked, from the sensation of the white ground(?) pressing against her butt. "...d-don't look," she hissed.

The titans stared, and she assumed they were blinking with slight confusion.

"...oh. Don't worry, we're not interested in your body," II said. "It's not as impressive as my muscles anyways."

What muscles...? the girl wondered. "Anyways, I'm lost. What am I doing here again?"

"...a prophecy," V spoke up again.

The girl and the other titans looked at V, puzzled. "A prophecy?"

"What prophecy?"

"I never heard of any no prophecies."

V nodded. "I recall... something about a prophecy," it said. "Very soon... danger will fall upon Kanto. Or something amongst those lines, at the very least."

Kanto. That was... The girl slowly looked up. "...Kanto."

"Yes. Kanto. The region you live in. Amazing, isn't it?" VII chimed with sarcasm. Or was it sass? Maybe it was both. Nevertheless, that annoyed her, but she could let it go.

...actually, wait. Live in? The girl raised an eyebrow. "I'm not from Kanto," she said.

That got the titans' attention. "...I'm sorry, what now?" IV asked. "Are you... messing around with us?"

"Mess around my ass, you guys are the one messing around!" the girl said. "Kanto's not even a real place!" Then she blinked. Wait, no, Bulbapedia and-or Wikipedia said it's based off of some Kanto area in Japan... oh well. "And that thing you said earlier," she said and looked at I, "Gengar jump scaring me? Gengar's not even real! It's a Pokémon!"

"...yeah, it's a Pokémon," VII said. "A real Pokémon. I'm not sure what you're saying."

"Pokémon's not real!" the girl hissed. "It's fiction! Seriously, I know this for a fact. Some Japanese dude wanted to turn pet fights into a game or something, I dunno, and it became a popular game series. Pokémon! Hello? Game Freak? Nintendo?"

"...I really think we need to get something for her to eat," VI said.

"Oh, for fuck's sake. Have you guys been living under a rock!?" the girl exclaimed.

"...can we get rid of her? She's crazy," III said.

"No, hold on," V said and leaned forward. "I'm hearing some... interesting things right now. Human girl. You say that Pokémon is a fictional concept?"

"Y-yeah," she replied. "It's... it's fiction. It was made as a video game series."

"Then let's see how you react to this..." A ghostly hand appeared from V's shoulder. It snapped its fingers, and suddenly, a small cloud of smoke erupted in front of the girl.

She shut her eyes in surprise, and when she opened again, a silhouette smaller than her appeared in the smoke. It was... it was...!

"A Rattata!?" the girl exclaimed. The purple furred mouse jumped in surprise and looked around, astonished.

"Seems quite real, isn't it?" V said. "Here's another real Pokémon."

Another snap, another cloud of smoke, and a new silhouette replaced the Rattata. This time it was a small, pink creature with an adorable face and a playful yet otherworldly vibe.

She smiled at this, getting caught up with identifying Pokémon. "That's a Clefairy."

"Hmm. So you know this one too. Then how about..."

Yet again, a new Pokémon took the place of the Clefairy. This time, however, it was slightly taller than her, and from the looks of it, a quadrupedal creature. Covered in lots of fur, this canine Pokémon yelped in surprise as it was suddenly brought into the realm.

"A... Arcanine, I think," the girl said.

With a snap, the Pokémon disappeared. V looked down on her with interest- not that she could tell, though. "That was quite fascinating. You'll have to agree with me that Pokémon are indeed real, but that last one is supposed to be a legendary Pokémon. You knowing of its species is quite interesting."

The girl slowly nodded. "Right..." Wait, Arcanine's not a legendary. ...well, maybe in the literal sense. "So... okay, I see now that Pokémon seems to be real. I still stand by what I said though," she said. "Last I remember, Pokémon definitely wasn't real..."

"Well, one of us has to be wrong then," IV said. "Doesn't seem like it's our side though."

"Hey, maybe this isn't the same girl we've been observing, but a spirit from another world!" I suggested.

The others slowly turned to I, then mused over the possibility. "Well, it's not impossible, perhaps," III said.

"...yeah, that actually does make sense," the girl agreed. "My world, no Pokémon. Your, uh, world... Pokémon." She blinked. Hey, wait... if this is the Pokémon world... is this... she slowly smiled. Is this one of those overused 'travel to another world' story plot? Am I... am I going to the Pokémon world, of all things?

Is this... is this the best isekai story ever!?

On that note, maybe she should stop thinking about what was going on and prepare to enjoy her new adventure! Oh, how exciting! ...on the other hand, her using the term 'isekai' slightly bothered her, but honestly, there were more important things right now.

"So, how does this work?" the girl asked. "Am I going to be reincarnated? Or just revived and transferred to the world?"

"...you seem rather excited," III said. "Are we missing something here?"

She scratched her head. "Well, I mean, I died, right? So if I'm appearing from my world, into this other world... that means I'm going to start over, right?"

The titans looked at each other, then backed at her. "...I feel like you think we're, like, some sort of gods, so I'll tell you right now, we're not gods," VII said. "We can revive you, though, but there are... certain things we need to get out of the way."

"Like... what?"

"Like the fact that you share a striking resemblance to the girl we were observing, and that for some reason, something tells us we need that girl alive," IV replied. "Since the girl we feel is important is dead, and you're coming to our world, I suppose it should be okay to revive you as her and have you live out as her... but..."

The girl frowned. That sounded boring and complicated- she'd need to do things to fit back in as whoever the other girl was, like remembering who all her friends were, relearning whatever language they spoke there, remembering whatever notes the girl might have or... well, you get the idea. "Do I have to?"

"Certainly," II said. "It seems like that girl is important to Five's prophecy, and as you are essentially like a clone of the girl, it is your duty to fulfill the prophecy in her place!" Then, II sprouted its own arm and flexed. "It is also the right thing to do, in the name of raw, muscly power."

Okay, that's getting sickeningly on my nerves, the girl thought. "Yeah, but this prophecy thing is kinda..." She paused.

Kanto? In danger? That sounded like...

Oh yeah, she was playing FireRed previously. Does that mean that she's in the game? And... is she going to become the hero of the game now? Then that would make sense, as the game's hero, Red, was basically a young boy set out to stop the crime syndicate Team Rocket from doing whatever evil world-threatening plan they had. Then again, Team Rocket was the sole exception to the villainous team formula, being moneymaking grubs rather than some world-ending lunatics.

But the newest games, Pokémon Sun and Moon, did mention a new team called Team Skull. Not that she was too familiar with that, but whatever.

Going through her mind, she realized that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to replace this girl who was supposedly the Red of her game knowledge. Or, uh, Leaf, since that's the female avatar equivalent, she supposed.

The girl looked up again. "...okay, I think that's fine with me," she said.

Who the hell would pass up the opportunity to go to the Pokémon world and become the hero? Not her!

The titans nodded to each other. "Very well, then. We're just as confused as you are about the situation, but we shall do our best to work with you."

All the titans formed hands and took each other's, and a magic circle appeared under the girl.

V looked down to her once more. "We shall revive you in your counterpart's body, then. You will wake up in your room, with your new body, clothes, and knowledge. I pray you shall do well to fulfill the prophecy, and save Kanto."

"Uh, sure. Yeah, I'll make sure to do that," the girl said. Her body began to feel light, and as she looked down, she began fading from the feet.

Just as the fade reached her waist, she thought of something to ask.

"What was the girl's name?" she asked.

V stared.

"Ignis."