Chapter 1
The moment he woke up, he knew that something – no. Everything had changed. He wasn't in his body, he had a new set of memories and most importantly, he wasn't a simple human anymore.
He was Red, and he was the Protagonist.
"Ah, perfect timing!" Professor Oak exclaimed as Red entered the laboratory. "Come, Blue and Leaf are already waiting."
Red followed the Professor without a word, which was nothing unusual; Red may have only been 15 years old – around same age as the soul who took over his body, but he had religiously followed the saying 'actions speak louder than words'.
…Which that was just an excuse; Red just didn't like talking and interacting with others much.
But that served the 'new' Red just fine. He would just not talk much for a while and blame any major changes in behaviour on his new experience being a trainer.
"You're late Red!" Blue growled the moment they entered Professor Oaks private office. "We've been here for an hour!"
Leaf took a step away from Blue. "You have been waiting for an hour. I have been here for barely 5 minutes." Blue glared at Leaf for not backing him up, to which she stuck out her tongue. "Not our fault that you literally live here and arrived early."
Red ignored their bickering; them fighting was the norm according to 'old' Red's memories. Instead, he took a seat and patiently waited for the Professor to introduce them to their starters.
Samuel Oak was stalling for time.
He should have prepared starter Pokemon for each of the teenagers before him – one of them his grandson – but he had completely forgot to do so.
The only reason why he wasn't asleep right now was because Blue had woken him up to 'get a head start' by receiving his starter early.
A request he wouldn't have fulfilled anyways, but had given him valuable time to send his Pokemon out to either catch a relatively rare wild Pokemon, or to convince some of the Pokemon living in his Corral to join the new trainers on their journey.
…He will have to compensate them somehow later one; he usually gave inspiring trainers coming to Pallet town either a Bulbasaur, a Charmander or a Squirtle, who are undeniably some of the strongest Pokemon of the Kanto region.
"Anyways!" His grandson finally cut their argument short, much to the Professor's chagrin. "Can I get my starter now? I've been itching to get a Squirtle for months now!"
He barely stopped himself from grimacing at his grandson's excitement. 'I better crush his hopes now, so he doesn't ruin his first impression with his not-Squirtle starter…'
"Actually," he said, putting his stern expression on. "After much consideration, I decided against giving out the traditional starters this year."
He averted his eyes from their horror-stricken faces and focused on Red instead, who, opposite to the other teens, remained calm.
"Don't worry, your starters have been carefully chosen from a vast amount of young Pokemon and have been deemed an adequate 'replacement' for the usual starter." He lied, all the while keeping a straight face. "Alakazam should be here shortly, so prepare yourself to meet your lifelong partner."
Seeing their disappointed faces, he was suddenly hit with a great idea on how to compensate them.
"Should you manage to match the gym challenge pace of the last trainers I give starters to, I will prepare an egg from whichever Pokemon species you want." He said, instantly feeling better; he wasn't one to own others favour – not since Agatha and the Pokemon Tower flop at least. "I will give you the egg after you beat the…hmm… third gym!"
The tone shifted to a positive one in an instance; Blue and Leaf started to chatter excitedly on which Pokemon species to choose from and Red-
'I suddenly have a bad feeling about this…' he supressed a shiver at Red's sharp grin, forcing his smile to stay in his face anyways. 'What's the worst he could ask for- '
"I want a Dratini egg then." Red said calmly and the room went quite instantly.
'That's… bad but still salvageable.' He gave a sigh of relieve. The possession of pseudo-legendary Pokemon was regulated by the League and would require him to pull some strings, but getting a Dratini wouldn't be too hard; he owned a Dragonite after all.
All this relieve vanished the moment he saw the exited faces of Leaf and Blue.
"I want a Larvitar then!" Blue exclaimed, which was followed by Leaf's choice. "I want a Beldum!"
He forced himself to smile; he had expected them to ask for rare Pokemon like Torchic or Froakie damnit!
…But considering he had scammed them from their legitimate starters, he refrained from refusing their request. "Don't forget you will have to beat three gyms within three months; beating one gym a month is an achievement only a handful of trainers manage in an average year, and most own naturally powerful starters."
He may have said that, but truthfully? He doubted that would stop any of them from exceeding his expectations. They were the most talented bunch of trainers he had seen since Lance, Bruno and Lorelei.
[We managed to gather three Pokemon who managed to fulfill the base requirement.] Alakazam said to him mentally. [Permission to teleport their Pokeballs?]
With a mental nod, three Pokeballs suddenly appeared on his table, instantly catching the attention of the three aspiring trainers.
"So, the starters I prepared are…" The professor paused for a moment, as if listening to a voice Red couldn't hear. "An Eevee, a Pikachu and an Alolan Vulpix?"
If 'old' Red hadn't been so keen on reading people, he would have missed Professor Oaks surprise at the last Pokemon. It also pretty much affirmed his suspicion that Oak hadn't prepared them starters at all.
It didn't matter, any Pokemon he got would become an absolute monster either way.
He was the protagonist after all.
"Oh, I want the Vulpix!" Leaf said first. "Is that alright with you two?"
Red just nodded, while Blue copied him hesitantly. "I take the Eevee then."
Which left the Pikachu for him; how fitting.
'At least that pretty much confirms that I am in some kinda of parallel universe to normal canon. Makes me wonder what other things are going to be similar and which aren't.'
Wordlessly, he grabbed Pikachu's Pokeball, but didn't release them just yet.
"I will introduce myself privately later." He explained while pointing over to Leaf and Blue, who were awkwardly whispering to their starters. Both appeared to be visibly uncomfortable from introducing themselves to their starter within the others vicinity.
"It is a very private moment." Samuel Oak mused, before handing him a Pokedex and five Pokeballs. "I wish you good luck on your journey and feel free to contact me if you need any advice!"
"And call at every chance you got!" His 'new' mother Delia said while hugging him. "And don't forget to eat well, and…- "
While she was listening off all the logical things he would have to do while traveling, Red was contemplating his emotional responses.
Surprisingly, he didn't feel awkward at all being hugged from 'old' Red's mother.
'Probably a side effect from getting all his memories; I feel generally calmer as well now that I think about it…'
He just shrugged; it was a purely positive change up to this point, so why complain.
Finally, after another few minutes, he managed to pry himself away from Delia and left for Route 1; one of the safest routes in all of Kanto.
It was time to start his journey!
…Although, he felt like he forgot something…
Leaf was fuming!
After leaving the laboratory, she had looked around for Red; only to learn from his mother that he already left!
They had promised to travel together and now he just left her standing here?!
"When I get my hands on him…!" She growled out while swiftly making her way to Viridian City. Originally, she wanted to fight and maybe catch a few Pokemon on Route 1, but then she wouldn't make it to Viridian before it got dark.
And camping alone was not something she was willing to do on her first day as a Pokemon trainer.
At least that meant she would reach Viridian before Red; intercepting him won't be a problem then.
"Happy birthday to me." She grumbled, fiddling with her starters Pokeball before releasing her. "At least I have you Luna; why don't we work on some of your moves while we walk!"
"Vul!" The small Vulpix quipped and released a [Powder Snow] … which, without her meaning to, hit a Spearow.
Who, suddenly cold and enraged, called other Spearow… until within seconds, the entire flock gathered and glared at Leaf and Luna.
"Fuck."
Red and Pikachu just stood there in silence, staring into each other's eyes. They had been doing that for nearly 5 minutes now; ever since Red released Pikachu from his Pokeball.
Truthfully, Red was a little disappointed to have a Pikachu as his starter. Sure, he will become an absolute unit after much training, but since waking up this morning he had been mentally creating an ideal team for himself… and fragile speedsters weren't his style.
"You will do." Red finally said. "I will have a team of Monsters. So, as my starter, you will need to be more than just a monster to keep them in check. Any question?"
Pikachu sneered at him before turning away – only to turn back instantly as he released that he just lost their staring contest.
Red couldn't help but chuckle at that; having an adorable Pokemon like this standing beside his future behemoths would be amusing… and a great way to make others underestimate him.
"You want a nickname?" Red asked while fishing out his Pokedex. "I've been thinking about Zeus; that the name of the god of the sky and thunder."
Pikachu opted to ignore him now that he lost their contest, which Red 'interpretated' as approval for the name.
Shrugging, Red started to fiddle with the Pokedex and, after finding the 'scan' section – the Pokedex was surprisingly complex; there was a call function, connection to the 'Pokenet' and even a map with information's on the local Pokemon situation – he quickly scanned the newly dubbed Zeus.
Pikachu – Electric type Pokemon
Ability – Lightning Rod
Moves – Thunder Shock / Quick Attack / Thunder Wave
"No [Volt Tackle], huh." He mused out loud, catching Pikachu's attention. "We will have to rectify that later. For now, I will have to find a way to properly communicate with you."
He didn't get the chance to browse through the Pokenet – he had a few ideas already but he wanted to see what ways were already discovered – before a familiar voice screamed at him.
"RED!" He barely turned and identified Leaf before she already shot past him. "RUN! SPEAROW FLOCK!"
His body reacted faster than his mind did and scooped up his confused starter before sprinting after her.
"WHATS THE PLAN?!" He shouted after her, turning his head to see… 40, maybe even 50 Spearow angrily flying after them. The only reason why they hadn't caught up to them yet was their young age – the older and stronger Spearow usually lived deeper in the woods.
"WE NEED TO REACH THE RIVER!" Leaf answered and Red groaned. His bag may be waterproof, but that didn't mean that he wanted to jump into a river filled with possibly dangerous Pokemon!
"We need to slow them down!" He hissed the moment he caught up to her. Pokemon were smart enough to understand human language so he didn't want to risk alerting them. "Does Vulpix know [Icy Wind]?"
He got his answer from Vulpix herself, who snuggled out of Leaf arms onto her head before using [Icy Wind].
It had its desired effect, and the few Spearow who were too slow to dodge started to immediately slow down by its speed lowering effect; none were hit unconscious though.
Unfortunately, it made the flock even angrier – something Red didn't expect to be possible, he really needed to ask Leaf how she pissed them of that badly!
"Zeus!" He exclaimed. "Use [Thunder Wave], target the ones closing in!"
The next minutes where race against time; Vulpix repeatably used [Icy Wind] to slow them down while Pikachu sniped the ones coming too close. And finally, after nearly 10 minutes of non-stop sprinting, the remaining flock decided to cut their losses – but only after Zeus had paralysedthe majority of the flock. For the more tenacious ones, he had resorted to hit them with [Thunder Shock], knocking a good amount unconscious.
And they couldn't have left at a better time. The moment they left – still a good kilometre away from the river, all four of them collapsed in exhaustion.
"Good…job!" Red and Zeus exchanged a fist bump before he forced himself up.
"Now," he turned to Leaf, who was still desperately panting for air. "How did you piss them off?"
Instead of answering, she flipped him off.
"Well, whatever." He shrugged fished out his Pokedex. He could already tell, this thing was becoming his new smartphone, to be fiddles with every chance he got. "We are off course; we need at least 8 hours before we reach Viridian now."
At Leaf's grumble, he continued. "It 3pm now. Zeus and Vulpix pretty much depleted their energy reserve and need at least another hour before there are battle ready again, so I'm for setting up our camp now and getting some training done later in this afternoon."
"…Alright." She finally relented. "Just… give me a few minutes."
He shrugged again and turned to Zeus, who had returned to giving him the cold shoulder – only this time he was sneakily looking over when he thought Red wasn't paying attention.
'Looks like surviving a dangerous situation mellowed him down a little.'
"Do you want to go into your Pokeball?" He asked curiously; pretty much every canon Pikachu disliked being contained after all.
"Piii!" Zeus growled, instantly vary of him.
"Alright, no pokeball then." He relented easily. "Can you help me gather some firewood then? I will put something together, I'm getting hungry."
He was answered with not one, but three different growling stomachs; none of them his own.
"If you want something as well, set up our tents!" He called over to Leaf and Vulpix. "Or scout the area for any dangerous Pokemon, we are a little deeper in the woods than typically suggested!"
With sudden surge of energy, Leaf jumped up and started to prepare the tents.
'Leave it to Leaf to think with her stomach.' He smiled at his pun. 'Let's see if I'm such a good cook as my memories make me out to be!'
"Chuuuu…" Zeus groaned, overstuffed with food.
Yes, Red was an amazing cook; a skill his mother had drilled into him for years to make sure he ate right while on his journey.
'I love myself…!' Red allowed, already salivating at the thought that he will eat his self-made food daily now. Really, life was good since he woke up as Red.
Much better than simply rotting away at home, distanced from his family and with no one he could confidently call a friend.
"Alright!" He suddenly exclaimed, dragging himself out of his sudden negative mood. "Zeus! I want you to learn [Discharge], it's a move that allows you to hit every target in a circle around you."
Zeus pretended not to be interested, but the sudden twitching of his ears told Red otherwise. "While training, try to gather and then release your electricity in a flare around you; and train a bit further away, I don't want to get hit."
He didn't stay to see if Zeus followed his instructions and sat against a tree instead before closing his eyes.
While cooking, he had searched through the Pokenet for ways to accurately communicate with Pokemon and found four known ways to do so; having a Pokemon with the ability Telepathy translate between the Pokemon, being a rare human with psychic abilities – which was apparently an inborn ability that would manifest during childhood and finally, simply teaching the Pokemon how to write and, the rarest one – Aura.
Aura, an ability only selected few humans used. It allowed the user to directly communicate with Pokemon though their life energy, which was actually the preferred way of communication between different Pokemon species as well.
And that was just one of many abilities Aura granted! According to rumours, it allowed a skilled practiser to evenly match a Pokemon in battle!
Most of them were only theoretically though.
Aura user – or commonly known as Aura Guardians, were seclusive and possessive of their secrets to unlock Humanities possible greatest potential.
To Red, all that didn't matter. Instead, he just sat down and started to meditate to search his body for this energy.
Not for a second did he doubt his ability to access this sought-after ability.
He was the protagonist after all.
And that marks the end for the first Chapter!
My plan is to update every Friday or, when I don't have enough time, on Saturday.
So, see you next week!