A Psychic's Journey

Summary: So apparently Taifun is doing Arceus a favor. Well, I certainly won't complain about the change in scenery, especially since I'm getting psychic abilities to go with it. (Story will stick primarily to games, though starts in Galar Pre Sword/Shield Warning, Multi Pairings down the line though not a main part of the story)

1. I Attend A Conference

My fingers flowed across the keyboard, the cursor struggling to keep up as I managed to keep my WPM at a very respectable 102, the scene in my head smoothly flowing onto my screen for once. In the middle of this flowing state in the 'Zone', I saw a cloaked figure suddenly appearing in the corner of my eye, leaning against the wall next to my desk.

"Taifun, if you interrupt my writing when I've finally got a good session going then ROB or not I will make you wish for death." I said, not even flicking my eyes towards him for a moment.

Yeah, I had previous contact with the guy before. I had been in a coma for a week after my head got introduced to my truck's hood in a traffic accident when I met him. According to him, it was a distressingly often occurrence in the multiverse. I was one of the 'lucky ones' who hadn't actually died from such an impact but was instead destined to wind up stuck in a hospital bed for about a year in a medically induced coma. Thankfully, Taifun had made a deal of keeping me from having to spend more than a month in the hospital if I gave up one of my kidneys. He didn't say why he wanted one and I didn't ask. All I knew is that since then he had popped in every once in a while to pursue my Potential Story Ideas folder for new ways to get entertainment from the alternate versions of me who HAD died, giving me a thousand dollars as a 'consultant fee' every time he liked what I came up with.

Taifun chuckled but otherwise remained silent. When I finally saved fifteen minutes later and leaned back with a sigh of satisfaction, he said "Matt, how would you finally like to kick this boring old Popsicle stand of a world?"

I blinked and glanced at him oddly as I asked "Why now?" 'Why not when I was in the coma?' Went unsaid but heard anyway.

"Arceus is asking for a favor." Taifun started, tapping his head as he continued "And while most versions of you look a lot alike outside of hair length and needing glasses or not, there ARE variances in your genetic code. You're DNA is the closest out of the bunch to forming your brain the right way to add something a little extra I want to put in before the big guy sends you to your final destination. I'd rather avoid any fiddly brain manipulation if I can avoid it so here we are."

"So I'll be a Psychic in a Pokémon world." I mused before I cocked my head and asked "Anime, Game, or Manga?"

"That'll be up to him." Taifun said, picking up my Nintendo Switch and idly turning it short wise in his grasp in a seemingly mindless manner. I wasn't fooled; whatever kind of Pokémon world I wound up in, I'd most likely have my Switch with me. And given that this was Pokémon we were talking about, I'd probably have access to the Mon stored on the Home, though likely only after I completed certain tasks and with other limits to stop me from spamming the literal dozens of Legendaries stored there. (I had three boxes of the darn things) Given I had at least one of ALL of the Pokémon species now (including each stage) thanks to the Mystery Gift and Old Couple in Floaroma Town from Brilliant Diamond, that was a not so small comfort.

I had a sudden thought and I asked "Just out of curiosity, considering how much travel there is in Pokémon stories, is there any chance I could make a deal to have my Ranger changed to run on electricity that can be charged by an Electric Type and brought with me?" What? I loved that little Ranger of mine, even with it being the basic of basics. And it cannot be stressed how useful having an eight foot truck bed can be. Or a roof overhead in a rain/snow storm.

Taifun seemed to actually blink under that hood of his before he chuckled and said "Tell you what, last a year wherever you wind up and I'll send it your way with a way to store it."

"I can work with that." I said with a smile. Seriously, a year without a motorized vehicle in a world with transport Pokémon wasn't that much of a hardship, I'd just need a good raincoat and regular coat for the above mentioned storms. Speaking of, I gestured at my closet and said "I suppose I should pack everything?" I then frowned and glanced at my laptop and asked "I'm going to have to give up writing aren't I?"

"Don't worry, I'll set up an interdimensional internet connection for you on your laptop." Taifun gave a dismissive wave before the blue Camelbak camel pack that normally hang from a hook on one of my closet doors was in his right hand. He stuck his left (Still holding the Switch) in the pouch in front of the water pouch and there was a flash of light. A touch screen appeared on the back of the camel pack with the word Switch at the top before he snapped his fingers and the word disappeared to show different icons with numbers under them. Seeing 'Clothes' with a fairly large number, I glanced behind me and sure enough, my closet was empty, as was the desk I was sitting at, my laptop nowhere to be found.

"There we go, one standard Pokémon bag. You can register two items to appear in the side pouches when you reach into them. I went ahead and made the bladder never empty with water as well. If you want anything else, you'll have to store it like normal." Taifun said as he held it out to me.

I didn't accept it just yet as I asked "And what does such a wonderful bag cost me?"

I could tell Taifun was smirking under his hood as he said "I just drained your checking account and took all of your emergency cash. Not like you can use US Dollars where you're going."

I sighed and stood up to put the Camelbak on as I said "Fair enough." Settling the pack on my back, I took one last look around my room and said "I guess we're heading out now?"

"Yep." Taifun said and suddenly I was no longer in my bedroom but instead in a MASSIVE spherical chamber, easily a thousand or more yards wide. There was no obvious light source but I could still see the entire area. There were people standing all along the wall of the chamber, and I do mean ALL along it, even some standing completely upside down above me. These people (and me when I glanced at my feet) were standing on hexagonal platforms nestled into the otherwise curved surface.

All of this was secondary though in the face of the creature hovering in the direct center of the sphere. Predominately white, the large form of Arceus appeared to be looking right at me specifically. A couple of moments later though, my eyes picked up a distortion around him and a few moments later, I saw what I could best describe as 'holograms' of Arceus overlapping themselves so that every single person was looking at an Arceus head on. Huh, neat trick that.

Taifun was next to me, arms crossed while leaning back against thin air. He was completely motionless as I continued looking around at all of the people in the chamber. Occasionally, there'd be a brief flash of white light and another person would be standing where the flash had occurred. There was a constant drone as several people talked to the ones around them, but I decided to keep quiet. Maybe three minutes after I had arrived, there was one last flash of light as the last person appeared and a loud gong sound rang out in the chamber, instantly silencing everyone. And then, Arceus spoke.

Greetings everyone, as you all know, I am Arceus. You have been gathered here today because several sections of the part of the multiverse that I preside over are developing into trouble areas that I feel need people with a little extra to help the locals. For some of you, this extra was that you have won championships, either of the card game variety or the various Pokémon Games. Others of you are experts in zoology, physics, engineering, and other sciences. Some of you have encyclopedic knowledge of the Pokémon series of your worlds. And others have gone to the trouble of collecting EVERY Pokémon in your games.

(Well, I certainly knew where I fell in that list of qualifications...)

Do not believe that I will be simply sending you into the deep end with no aid. All of you will be given a Porygon to assist you in cyberspace, even those who have members of the Porygon line in their collection, with an Upgrade and a Dubious Disk to evolve them when both you and your helper believe they are ready to evolve. You will also be given 10,000 Poke every month for the first year. Finally, each of you will be psychically given an information packet about the world you will be sent to and what needs to be done to keep that world spinning.

Now, I do not want you to believe that you have no choice in this matter. If you so desire, I will send you back to your original world and find someone else to take your spot. However, I beseech you not to choose to go back simply because it is what you have always known. While each of you will certainly face adversity if you choose to go forward, I believe that the rewards for doing so shall outweigh the negatives. I shall give you ten minutes to decide.

At the end of Arceus' speech, a hologram of a screen appeared in front of me, a timer already counting down hanging over a green yes and a red no button. The platform under my foot turned blue as well (something which all of the other people's areas did as well.) I glanced over at Taifun for a moment before I shrugged and pressed yes. After all, I had already decided to see this through back in my old world. As far as I was concerned, this was merely a formality.

The timer and two buttons went away and the blue under me turned to green as a Porygon replaced the timer and buttons with text appearing under it.

Greetings. I carry the designation T87Y93. I shall be your Porygon Partner from now on. Do you wish to change my designation?

I nodded and after a few moments of thought said "Let's go with Riker."

Acknowledged, this unit shall from now on answer to Riker. The Porygon stated before the text was replaced with Prepare for mental information transfer.

My eyes crossed as the new information settled into my brain: Seemed to be a 'Version' Pokémon world, starting point was Galar, specifically Postwick, more specifically, Gloria and Victor's house. (Apparently they were twins in this world) You had to be eighteen before you could start your journey in this world, which is what I would be deaged to. I was apparently being dropped off eight years before those two would go on their own journey, which to me said I'd be dealing with an Evil Team since the pair of 'chosen ones' of that region weren't old enough to do it themselves. (And no, Team Yell did NOT count as an Evil Team, they were overenthusiastic fan boys and girls of Marnie, nothing else) I'd be spending a week with the twins and their mother until it was time for the opening ceremony of that year's League Season in Motostoke. I would also be receiving my Starter Pokémon from Professor Magnolia when I arrived alongside a group of others. After Galar, I was expected to link up with the 'main characters' of the other regions during their first years in order to make sure the rookies didn't get in over their heads, which yeah, I could work with that.

The part where me having all of the Pokémon species on the Pokémon Home app on my Switch came in how I could make a pocket dimension where an actual Pokémon of a species I chose was allowing me to battle then if I beat it, catch it. However, while I could battle a selected Pokémon multiple times, I could only catch said selected Pokémon once and afterwards the corresponding Pokémon would grey out on the Home making them unavailable for future battles/captures. There was also a badge limit in play. If I had no badges then I could only summon baby Pokémon. When I got my first badge, I could summon the first stage of a Pokémon in the 'Common' Tier. Second badge let me summon the first stage from an 'Uncommon' tier species. Third I could summon a first stage from a 'rare' tier species. Fourth through sixth badges allowed for the second stages of Common, Uncommon, and Rare respectively while the seventh badge allowed me to summon all third tiers and below so long as they weren't Legendaries. If I wanted one of those, I had to get my Eighth badge, and even then, 'Box Art' Legendaries were off the table. Those Legendaries would only be available if I managed to beat their corresponding Champion. Also, there would NOT be any way to catch Arceus. Battling him though was an option if I defeated two or more Champions.

The second to last thing I got from the mental transfer was the 'universal' Language of the world I was going to. While it did use the Unown Alphabet, it wasn't quite the English that I grew up with. It would have been like a current day New Yorker getting sent to fifteenth century London. Some similar words, but also some vastly different meanings, not to mention slang.

Finally I had a small library's worth of law books stuffed into my head, mainly covering Pokémon law and rules of league sanctioned combat but there were a few non Pokémon related regulations slipped in as well.

Giving my head a quick shake after everything had settled, I said "That was odd."

"It's about to get a little stranger." Taifun said cheerfully. The moment I turned my head towards him, he head poked me like a certain big brother Uchiha. My eyes crossed again as something in my brain shifted and it suddenly felt like I was in a football stadium with everyone shouting. I mentally flinched back from the voices which I just knew were the thoughts of everyone else around me and pictured the voices hitting a barrier of 'vacuum' around my mind and concentrated on that mental image. I let out a sigh of relief a few moments later when the only voice in my head was my own.

"Impressive, I was just about to put a one way shield around your mind but you managed to make your own within seconds of your power up." Taifun stated, sounding rather pleased about that.

"Having read so many stories with mind arts in them helped." I said, rubbing at my forehead.

"Quite." Taifun said cheerfully before he clapped a hand on my shoulder and said "Well, here's where I leave. Do enjoy the little extra gifts I added to your Aura."

"What extra gifts?!" I asked in alarm. But I asked open air, Taifun having immediately vanished after he finished speaking, though his cackling remained in the air for a few more moments before fading away. The people around me glanced over at my distressed question but after a moment went back to contemplating their screens.

Running a hand through my hair, I sighed and muttered "Why do I get the feeling I'm going to want to introduce my head to a solid object repeatedly when I find out what else he gave me?" Shaking that distressingly prophetic feeling out of my head, I looked around the chamber and saw that there were already several green spots of light matching my own, with more blue spots rapidly turning green as I watched. There were also more than a few red spots popping up though they were definitely in the minority as people made their choices.

Turning my gaze back to the screen holding Riker, I asked "Riker, I've got a laptop, phone, and Switch in my pack. Will you be able to interact with them without taking up all of their available Memory Storage?"

Riker nodded his head as he stated My code has been hyper compressed to the point where I can run on a minimum of one hundred mb.

I blinked and said "Only a hundred? Damn, the people who made you must be a good century or two ahead of the cyber engineers back in my world if they could do that."

Indeed. Riker stated before his form rotated to look back towards Arceus for a few moments. When he rotated back, he stated Arceus is preparing to transport those who have already made their choices. Brace yourself.

I saw one of the nearby timers countdown to nine minutes and a moment later there was a spherical pulse of Space/Time energy from Arceus. All of the blue lit hexagons formed a blue shield over them preventing the pulse from touching their occupants. Everyone else though disappeared with a flash of white light, the hexagons they had been standing on providing targeting data for the pulse.

Not that I knew the mechanics of what was happening. All I knew was that one moment I was in the massive spherical chamber, the next there was a wall of white energy rushing out at me. I flinched at the sight and the next moment my world whited out.

An instant later, I could see again and I looked around finding myself now standing in the middle of a family room, the clock on the mantle over the fireplace saying it was eleven in the morning.

"So you're the one who we'll be hosting for a week." A female voice stated. Turning around, I saw a brunette in blue overalls with her hair tied into a ponytail held by a green ribbon laying in front of her left shoulder, glasses perched on her nose in front of her brown eyes. She was sitting on the couch, a brown haired child on either side, a boy on her right side and a girl on her left, with the same coloration, the pair looking at me in curiosity.

I cocked my head and a moment later said "You seem to be taking a guy appearing in your living room rather than at the front door a lot better than I would expect."

The woman shrugged and said "Arceus cleared it with me yesterday."

"Oookay...?" I said, thinking she was extremely calm for having talked to a literal god the day before.

As if she was the telepath and not me, the mother actually smirked and said "Having a grass type that can use Aromatherapy will do wonders for dealing with panic attacks."

"Ah." I said in understanding. Yeah, having the Pokémon equivalent of a calming draught would certainly help things.

The woman stood up from the couch, telling her two children to stay with hands on their shoulders before she walked over and offered her hand as she said "Anyways, call me Blair."

"Matt." I said, shaking her hand.

Blair nodded and once her hand was free brought her hand to the pocket at the top of her overalls and pulled out an envelope. Handing it to me, she said "Celebi dropped these off this morning. You're in all of the right systems so you don't need to worry about tripping any red flags after not being able to be identified."

"Right." I said, opening the envelope as I continued "I would have had Riker do that for me within twenty four hours of getting here so this saves us some trouble."

"Riker?" Gloria asked, and when I looked at her, her head was tilted in curiosity.

I smirked at her and shifting my grip on the envelope so the papers and cards inside didn't fall out then slipped my Camelbak off my back. Tapping at the touch screen on it, I pulled up my laptop and then opened the zipper. Pulling the requested device out of my pack, I set it on the mantle and flipped open the lid as I said "Care to introduce yourself Riker?"

The Porygon appeared on the screen and a digitized voice came out of the speakers as he said "Greetings, I am the cybernetic aid provided to Matthew by Arceus."

"That's a Porygon." Victor stated deadpan.

"Yeah?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Victor frowned and asked "Why isn't he a Rotom? That's what we use."

"Kid, I'd take an artificial intelligence over an electro ghost any day of the week for dealing with anything having to do with cyberspace." I said with a smirk.

"Thank you Matthew." Riker said, his digitized voice sounding pleased.

"You're welcome Riker." I said over my shoulder before I glanced down back at the envelope. Inside was a photo ID for my newly aged self as Trainer Qualified (hometown set to Postwick), a Driver's License (Which I thought was a nice touch given I doubted Arceus knew of the small deal I made with Taifun), copy of an already filled out form for a Starter from Professor Magnolia (I was apparently getting a Scorbunny), Recommendation letter for this year's league season, and finally a form registering Riker as my assistant in cyber investigations, which further strengthened my belief that I was sent to this point in time for anti-Evil Team operations.

Swapping my old Driver's License and Blood Donor card for my two new IDs in my wallet, I put everything else in my Camelbak for now and glanced over at Riker as I said "Riker, I'm going to need to know where to go once the league season of this region is finished. Link up with my phone and access the Pokémon Folder in the Photos App. Use the photos in the albums of Leaf, Red, Ethan, Gold, Kris, Lyra, May, Brendan, Dawn, Lucas, Hilbert, Hilda, Rosa, Nate, Serena, Caleb, Selene, and Elio as facial recognition sources and use them to determine how old each of the named people are then give me a list of their regions in the order of when they'll be eligible to go on their respective journeys."

"Understood." Riker stated and his avatar was replaced with multiple windows filled with names and pictures rapidly scrolling down.

"Those were a lot of names." Gloria stated, a confused frown on her face.

I shrugged and said "I'm apparently going to be hitting seven regions after this one. I'd rather know now what order I'll need to be in them rather than scrabbling later."

Blair frowned and glanced over at her two children before looking back at me. She didn't say anything about her thoughts though and I didn't question her. Instead, I glanced back at the laptop as it gave a ding and Riker stated "Regional List sorted Matthew. The first region you will have to travel to is, as you no doubt expected with it being labeled Gen I, Kanto. However, after that, the order is a bit mixed up from how you have labeled the regions. Following Kanto the order is Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Johto, Kalos, and finally Alola."

I blinked and asked "Not Unova twice?"

"No sir. Hilda and Rosa are cousins of the same age. However, I found no records corresponding to Nate or Hilbert." Riker stated.

"Huh." I muttered to myself, having not expected that. Guess I'd have to make doubly sure that all of the loose ends were dealt with in that region before I moved on if I didn't want to come back while I was dealing with Johto...

I was brought out of my thoughts by Blair as she said "Well, now that you are here, I do believe it's time I started lunch. Would you like to join us Matt?"

Glancing over at her, I nodded and said "I didn't have dinner before I world jumped so sure."

One simple lunch later, I was giving the Corviknight taxi landed in front of Blair's property wall a dubious look.

"You sure that bird can carry all five of us plus the cab?" I asked. I had thought that there was only one seat in these things, but apparently, there were bigger cabs that could be used for transporting four man groups.

The Corviknight looked offended at my question but the 'driver' chuckled and asked "Given you've somehow gone this long without using a taxi, I take it you're not a local?"

"First day in Galar, I was teleported in by a Psychic." I confirmed. (Well, a god actually, but considering Arceus had a Mind Plate...)

"Well don't worry, my Partner here can easily carry a cab full of adults, and with a lap Pokémon for each of them to boot." The cabbie reassured.

Blair rolled her eyes and pushed me towards the open cab door (Victor and Gloria had already excitedly clambered in) and said "Oh get in Matt, it's perfectly safe."

"Well excuse me if all of the flying I've done before has been in planes." I muttered, though I did get into the cab, sitting down next to Victor while Blair sat down opposite of us with Gloria. Once the door was closed then locked, and all of us had our seat belts buckled, the Corviknight gave a loud squawk then gave great flaps of its wings and the cab lurched up in the air before it rapidly ascended to two thousand feet.

As the corviknight leveled off, I mused "Well, the Gs are certainly a lot better than using an air plane at least."

"I wouldn't know." Blair said idly, watching Gloria press her face against the window with a smile.

"Have you flown in planes a lot?" Victor asked.

"About a dozen times or so." I said with a shrug.

"What's it like?" Gloria asked.

I shrugged again and said "Depends on how big the bird is. You're almost always pushed into your seat on takeoff though and most people feel like their stomach is dropping as well."

Victor frowned and said "Planes aren't birds."

I huffed in amusement and said "It's a nickname for them kid." Rolling my eyes, I continued "Anyways, most planes are pressurized so you can go above the cloud layer. Whenever there are a lot of clouds it's like looking down over a white sea. If you can see down to the ground below it looks like it's just creeping past but it's an optical illusion since you're seeing so much from the window and you're going several hundred miles per hour."

"Wow." Gloria said, amazement in her eyes.

"Passing over Wedgehurst, we'll be at Professor Magnolia's lab in two minutes." The Corviknight's trainer stated through the speaker set in the cab's roof.

I blinked and glanced out the window towards the ground. Sure enough, there were buildings down below, including a train station. Blinking again, I said "Either I misjudged the distance or this bird is going a lot faster than I gave it credit for."

"Route 1 is the shortest route of Galar, being able to be crossed within fifteen minutes of hard biking. But both it and Route 2 are filled with Pokémon that while relatively benign still like to often challenge travelers which is why we're taking the taxi." Blair explained.

"I see." I muttered as I continued looking down towards the ground.

As the cabbie said, it didn't take long after passing over the town to reach a lone but large building with a lake against one side and forest on the other. There was a section of asphalt with the standard battle lines drawn on it, several people standing on one end. As Corviknight moved to land the cab on the other side of the field, my eyes could hardly believe who I was seeing.

'Leon, Raihan, Sonia, Nessa, Bea, Allistar, Gordie, and I think that's Milo (Guy actually looked somewhat normal rather than like a bodybuilder). Bloody hell, I was expecting Sonia and maybe Leon, but that's six future gym leaders, the future champion, and that's Melony talking with Professor Magnolia making one current gym leader on top of it. What exactly are we going into?'

It wasn't just those aforementioned people standing on the field either. A Hop that was just as chibi sized as Gloria and Victor was standing next to his brother, their mother on Leon's other side. There was a dark skinned man standing by Raihan, another standing by Nessa's side (With an older woman with grey tinged blue highlighted hair speaking with Melony and Magnolia), a man with the same hair as Bea with her, an older woman wearing a mask stood by Allistar, and Milo seemed to be with his grandfather. To make things even more surreal, Nessa's apparent grandmother, Allistar's apparent grandmother, Raihan's father, and Melony were all in the gym leader clothes of the respective towns the future gym leaders would preside over.

I barely felt the cab settle onto the ground with a surprisingly soft bump, instead staring at the large group of people that I had not been expecting to encounter today. Seriously, I thought I was just going to be getting my Starter with two others, not take part in a conference with the present and future who's whose of Galar.

"Blair?" I asked, the 'what the hell?' held back in consideration for the two young kids with us but heard loud and clear anyways.

"Not sure." Blair said, frowning a little even as she moved to open the door. Beginning to get out, she continued "Leon and Hop were expected, as was Sonia for obvious reasons. I don't know why everyone else is here though."

As I followed Blair out of the cab, Victor and Gloria quickly darted past me to talk with Hop. My eyes tracked them as they went before they shifted to Magnolia as the Region's Professor stated "Ah, and here's our final guest. We may now start."

All of the conversations stopped and everyone shifted so that that the young adults were in a semi-circle around Magnolia. Once we were in place, Magnolia tapped her bird headed cane onto the battle ground and she stated "Today is a momentous occasion for you nine. Over time, you shall collect many Pokémon, but your first, your Starter will be the one who will be at your side from today, the start of your journey, to the end of your journey, and even beyond when you retire. In return, you shall guide them down the path of growth, from their young but eager first forms to their strong and confident final stage."

Magnolia looked each one of us nine in the eye before she continued "You nine are my choices to enter Galar's Pokémon League this year. Having the Professor of a Region endorse you brings with it the expectations of others. I have no doubts that each and every one of you will not only rise up to the expectations of those people, but to surpass them." Magnolia's gaze rested on me alone a second time for a few moments, as if to say 'Yes, even you outsider.'

All nine of us straightened just that little bit more from our already attentive stances at Magnolia's words. A couple of moments later, she nodded and finished with "In accordance with Galar Regulations, I have examined each Pokémon that has been chosen to be a Starter for those gathered here today to begin their journeys. Having found no deficiencies, I declare them fit for dispersal."

Tapping her cane again, she stated "Allistar of Stow-on-Side, step forth."

As the masked teenager stepped out of the semicircle, his grandmother moved to stand next to Magnolia, handing her a Pokeball. Magnolia held the Pokeball out towards Allistar and questioned "Do you, Allistar of Stow-on-Side, swear to care for this Pokémon as a member of your own family, to always put its well-being over your own ambitions, and to guide it in being not only strong, but morally just?"

"I swear." Allistar said, a slight tremor of anxiety in his voice but surprisingly strong even with it.

"Then take your Starter young Allistar, and begin your Journey." Magnolia stated officially and Allistar reached up to grasp the Pokeball. He stared at if for a few moments before he triggered the device and a moment later, a Gastly was floating in front of him. After a few moments of the pair staring between each other, Allistar's grandmother shifted, snapping Allistar out of his trance. As he quickly moved back to the semicircle with his Starter, his grandmother also moved back to the group.

Once he was back in place, Magnolia tapped her cane and called "Bea of Stow-on-Side, step forth."

As the barefooted Bea moved forward, her dad moved to stand beside Magnolia and like Allistar's grandmother provided a Pokeball. Accepting it then holding the sphere out towards Bea, she once more asked "Do you, Bea of Stow-on-Side, swear to care for this Pokémon as a member of your own family, to always put its well-being over your own ambitions, and to guide it in being not only strong, but morally just?"

"I swear." Bea stated firmly.

"Then take your Starter young Bea, and begin your Journey." Magnolia commanded. When Bea activated the Pokeball, a Machop was released. It was quick to return the warrior's bow Bea gave it then followed its new trainer back to the circle.

Tap "Gordie of Circhester, step forth."

Melony handed over a Pokeball which, despite her specialty in ice types, released a Rolycoly.

Tap "Leon of Postwick, step forth."

Leon's new Starter was revealed to be the expected Charmander. (I would later learn that it was a gift from his Father who was originally a Kantonian Trainer.)

Then it was my turn.

Tap "Matthew of Postwick, step forth." Magnolia commanded and I took a deep breath before moving to stand before her. Unlike everyone else before me, no one moved to stand beside Magnolia. Instead, she moved her hand to her belt, pulling a Pokeball from its holster and held it out to me as she questioned "Do you, Matthew of Postwick, swear to care for this Pokémon as a member of your own family, to always put its well-being over your own ambitions, and to guide it in being not only strong, but morally just?"

"I swear." I stated.

"Then take your Starter Matthew, and begin your Journey." Magnolia stated as she placed the Pokeball in my hands. There was a sense of confusion from the others at the lack of 'young' placed before my name, but no one spoke. I ignored that though as I triggered the Pokeball and watched as the released red light formed into my Starter. The Scorbunny appeared with closed eyes and gave a stretch before it opened them. Looking up at me, it gained a large grin and then hopped up, grabbing my arm and pulling itself up to scrabble up to my shoulder, chattering excitedly. I gained a grin at that before giving Magnolia a nod of thanks before moving back to my spot, free hand absently moving to scratch behind my new Pokémon's ears as Magnolia called the next trainer.

Tap "Milo of Turffield, step forth."

Like with me, Magnolia reached for a Pokeball on her belt for Milo which released a Grookey.

Tap "Nessa of Hulbury, step forth."

Nessa's Starter also came from Magnolia's belt, releasing the third regional starter Sobble.

Tap "Raihan of Hammerlocke, step forth."

The Pokeball Raihan's Father provided contained a Trapinch. And then there was just one person left.

Tap "Sonia of Wedgehurst, step forth." Magnolia summoned and her granddaughter quickly moved to stand in front of her. As she did so, a Boltund I hadn't noticed before padded around the group and went to sit by Magnolia's side as the Professor took a final Pokeball from her belt and held it out to Sonia as she questioned "Do you Sonia of Wedgehurst, swear to care for this Pokémon as a member of your own family, to always put its well-being over your own ambitions, and to guide it in being not only strong, but morally just?"

"I swear." Sonia stated, all but vibrating in excitement.

"Then take your Starter young Sonia, and begin your Journey." Magnolia commanded and Sonia accepted the Pokeball, eagerly triggering its release. When she saw the Yamper, she grinned and bent down to sweep it up into her arms, laughing when the little guy licked her face.

'Wonder if anyone else realizes she's the only one who got a two stage Starter.' I mused to myself. Given that I'd be alright with wagering the Boltund was a member of Magnolia's team though, I doubt Sonia would care about such technicalities of evolution stages.

When Sonia had returned to her spot, Magnolia gave another tap of her cane and stated "Trainers, from now on, your fate is in not only your hands, but also those of your Pokémon," she smirked as she tacked on "where applicable of course." There was general laughter from everyone at that for a moment then Magnolia continued "In one week's time, this year's League Season will begin. I expect to see all of you standing in the middle of the Wyndon Stadium in ten months' time, ready take on all who face you. And in order for you to be prepared for that day, you will need these."

Magnolia tapped her cane yet again and at that signal, nine different alert tones rang out. I and the other eight newbie trainers pulled out our respective phones and as I unlocked the Lock screen I saw that there was a new app labeled Pokedex on the Home Screen. Looks like I wasn't the only one with a Porygon helping me. (I doubted a Rotom could install such a program on nine phones simultaneously so quickly.)

I looked up from my phone as Magnolia stated "Be sure to study that often. But for now, I suggest you use them in order to get to know your Starter better. Matthew, come with me for a bit."

I ignored the looks of curiosity from the other trainers as I pocketed my phone and followed Magnolia into her house. Once we were in the kitchen, Magnolia pointed her cane at the table and said "Have a seat."

As I sat down, Scorbunny hopping off of my shoulder to sit on the table, Magnolia pulled a kettle out and filled it with water from her sink before bringing it to her oven. As she set it on one of the burners and turned on the oven, she stated "While I appreciate that all of the paperwork was properly filed, I do not appreciate being told to give one of Galar's League Sanctioned Starters to someone who I have not had the chance to Vet myself, Creator of the World doing the telling or not." Turning towards me, she narrowed her eyes and stated "I also do not appreciate the implication that we of Galar need an Outsider not even from this world to deal with whatever issue you were sent here to fix."

"It's not just Galar." Riker stated, catching Magnolia flatfooted as he shot out of the touch screen on my Camelbak. A globe of the Pokémon world appeared beside the Porygon with multiple regions lighting up as the artificial intelligence continued "Extrapolating from the information Matthew requested regarding a number of individuals, I have come to the conclusion that no less than seven other regions will become trouble spots that we must resolve. Furthermore, I have reason to believe that those troubles will deal with the top level Legendaries of those regions attempting to be used for malevolent purposes."

"And Galar's likely going to have the same kind of Legendary trouble in eight or so years." I tacked on before I shrugged and said "Which leads me to believe that the reason why I'm here now is that there's a Team of evil assholes hanging around that I'm expected to beat the ever loving hell out of before I leave for the other regions. The problem is that the 'Team' that I know of from this region were nothing but a bunch of fanboys and fangirls overenthusiastic about their support of one of the gym challengers. Hardly a group you go to the trouble of bringing in an Outworlder to deal with."

Magnolia frowned and said "If it is true that you were sent here primarily to deal with groups of Regional Criminals then I may have a lead for who you are to face while here. There have been rumors going around for the last two months about a group called Team Dark. Nothing concrete, but there have been whispers of people trying to bring back the Darkest Day." Magnolia raised an eyebrow and asked "Unfortunately, we don't have much data on what that event actually was. I don't suppose you know what it is do you?"

I shrugged and said "Well, it could always be something different in this world, but in the material that I'm familiar with, it was caused by a mega dragon (lower m, not upper m by the way) that basically pumped out so much power it made a mile wide Pressure field that was strong enough that within a hundred feet no normal Pokémon could use their Attacks. It took a pair of Legendaries working together to knock the bastard out."

Magnolia went back to frowning and said "That's troubling news. I don't suppose you know where these Legendaries can be found if this Evil Team succeeds?"

I nodded and said "I have a general idea. The problem is that if what I 'know' tracks in this world, they're currently slumbering and I'm not sure they'd wake up without an active regional threat occurring."

Magnolia raised an eyebrow and queried "They're 'Slumbering' eh?"

"Eeyep." I stated, popping the p.

Magnolia let out a contemplative hum at that before she shook her head and asked "Anything else you can tell me?"

I glanced up in thought for a moment then looked back down at the Professor and said "Keep an eye on Chairman Rose."

Magnolia gained a startled look as she asked "Rose? Why would I need to worry about him?"

I frowned a little and said "The guy has good intentions, but stress can make people do stupid things. I might have something that can help when the time comes though." Looking at Riker, I said "Riker, what's the state of nuclear power generation in this world?"

"If you'll excuse my language sir, damn near nonexistent. Plenty of research into nuclear physics, but there is an extreme hesitance in this world to use it for power generation. In total, there are no more than twenty five power plants globally that use nuclear fusion for generation, and they are all in isolated areas." Riker reported.

"Nuclear energy?" Magnolia asked aghast.

I rolled my eyes and asked "Why does everyone freak when it comes to that stuff? I get it's more dangerous if things go wrong, but there have been far less incidents attributed to it than any other method of power generation. And it's much cleaner when kept properly contained to boot." Shaking my head, I said "Riker, compile everything my Earth has on the subject and send it to Rose, maybe we'll get lucky and it'll keep him from freaking out too much about Galar's long term energy budget."

"One moment please," Riker requested. Twenty two seconds later, (I counted) he stated "Information compiled and sent to Chairman Rose sir."

I gave a happy sigh and said "By Primus, I love how fast you can work as an AI Riker."

"Thank you sir." Riker said, a pleased tone in his digitized voice.

Magnolia blinked and asked "Hold up, how can your Porygon retrieve information from another world?"

I grinned and said "Perk of agreeing to come to a new world. Glad I've got it too, I'd absolutely HATE to give up One Piece." I decided to keep Taifun out of things, it'd keep things relatively simple.

"And this One Piece is?" Magnolia questioned.

My grin grew as I stated "Only arguably one of, if not the best long running series of my world, over twenty one years, and just over a thousand chapters of pirate adventure goodness."

"Right." Magnolia stated, clearly not getting it, but not willing to ask for more information. Her loss. Shaking her head, the Professor turned back to her oven, turning the heating element off just as the tea kettle started to whistle and went about making herself tea. As she did so, she said "You can go back outside Matthew, I believe we have discussed everything we need to."

"Alright." I said with a nod, standing up then offering my arm to Scorbunny. Once my Starter was sitting on my shoulder, I headed for the exit, Riker floating next to me.

As we went through the front door of the building, Riker asked "Should I be worried that the Professor was adding a shot of alcohol to her beverage?"

I let out a snort of amusement at that and said "It shouldn't be a problem. Now, if she took a pull straight from the bottle, then I'd be worried."

As I made my way to the others, I was unsurprised to see that there was already a Pokémon battle going on. Leon's Charmander was taking on Raihan's Trapinch and everyone was watching the match with anticipation. A Mr. Rhyme was standing next to Melony, the clear source of the shimmering field that surrounded the battlefield in order to keep the noncombatants safe from any stray attacks. I watched for a few moments before I moved towards the small collection of picnic tables by the lab's property defining waist high wall.

Once seated with Scorbunny on the table in front of me, I pulled out my phone and pulled up the Pokedex app. A quick bit of tapping later, I pointed the camera at Scorbunny and got its stats. It was a male with Jolly Nature, which meant ten percent increase to his speed in return for ten percent decrease to Sp. Attack. Considering my stance when it came to battling in the Version games was it was always best to hit first and if possible knock your opponent out on the first blow, I could work with that. It helped that the majority of the moves Scorbunny learned were Physical Attack rather than Sp. Attack. Speaking of Attacks, Scorbunny already knew Growl, Tackle, Ember, Quick Attack, Double Kick and (to my surprise) Super Fang as an egg move.

"Pretty good move set to start with." I told Scorbunny and the rabbit puffed out its chest a little in pride. Chuckling, I reached over and rubbed the top of his head, Scorbunny making a pleased sound as it leaned up into the contact. When I pulled my hand back, I raised an eyebrow and asked "So, want a nickname or do you prefer going by your species name?"

Scorbunny crossed his arms, lowered his head, and closed his eyes in thought for a few moments before he opened his eyes again and gave a firm nod.

I gave a hum and thought for a moment before I smirked and said "I think I've got a couple that fit." Pulling out my phone, I brought up the Digimon Folder on my Photos app and showed Scorbunny a picture of a certain bomber jacket wearing kid surrounded by all of the stages of his Digimon partner and said "This is Davis, a great soccer player. He's from a series called Digimon where the characters' partners are able to move up and down on their stages. Davis' Partner is Veemon, and one of his stages is Flamedramon, which as the name suggests, uses fire attacks." Swiping to another photo to show another kid and his partner, I continued "This is Tai, Davis' predecessor. He's also a soccer player and his partner Agumon, uses fire as well. Do Tai or Davis work for you?"

Scorbunny cocked his head for a moment as he pawed between the two images for a few moments. But then he gave one last swipe to Davis' picture and tapped at it. The action made the photo zoom in startling the guy a little but it wasn't more than a small flinch and he looked back at me pointing at it.

I nodded and said "Davis it is then." Scorbunny, now Davis, nodded and then looked back down at the picture, which now showed just the top half of Davis wearing the bomber's jacket he got whenever he entered the Digital World. As my Davis cocked his head, I smirked and asked "Want a jacket like that for yourself?"

Davis looked up and gave another nod.

My smirk widened and I said "Alright, tell you what, since you'd literally outgrow it twice if I got you one now, how about when you become Cinderace I'll buy you one as a 'Congrats on reaching your final form' present?"

Davis threw up his arms with a happy cry and I chuckled as I glanced at Riker and said "I think he likes that idea."

"Indeed sir." Riker stated, sounding amused as well.

Looking at Riker, a thought came to me and I frowned as I asked "Riker, I think before we start travelling, I should know: Do you want to take part in conventional Battling or would you prefer to stick with Cyber Warfare Operations?"

Riker was silent for two seconds, a much longer time for an Artificial Intelligence than for a human, before he stated "If we are in an 'all hands on deck' confrontation or if you are down to just me as a usable Pokémon then I shall aid you. I will also participate in any training you wish to give me. However, as a being created to aid you cybernetically, I believe that I am more suited to that battlefield than a stadium."

"Fair enough." I said with a nod. Unlike the games, the Pokémon of this world had actual feelings. If I didn't take them into account when sending them into a fight then I would be no better than that Damian douchebag from season one of the Pokémon show. With that in mind, I turned my gaze back to Davis and asked "Are you alright with regularly battling?"

Davis gained what I was sure was in his mind a fierce grin and punched his right fist into his left hand. The brief flare of fire that flickered out of his mouth was a nice touch. Laughing, I said "I'll take that as a yes." Davis nodded and I swore I heard a young voice say in my mind 'Darn Straight!'

I frowned a little, checking that my vacuum barrier was still in place. It was, but a closer 'look' showed that there were two 'tunnels' through it. It didn't take me long to work out that they led to my two Pokémon. In my mind's eye, the tunnels had barrier gates blocking them but the one to Davis was partially opened, probably because Riker had already been with me when I was given my psychic powers so he had been shut out properly but Davis had joined our little team after so I had subconsciously left the link open a little. Well, I was quick to fix THAT problem. As useful as knowing what my Pokémon were thinking, I needed to take things slow when it came to my new powers if I didn't want to accidentally give myself an aneurysm.

Shaking my head from that thought, I rubbed Davis' head between his ears earning a pleased sound before I picked up my phone and went back to the Pokedex app as I said "Well Riker, let's see what we have to work with for you."

Riker was Male (knew that before going by the voice he used), had a Serious Nature so no buff or debuff to any of his stats, and had some serious fire power already Move wise with Conversion, Tackle, Recycle, Magnet Rise, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Sunny Day, Solar Beam and Psybeam. Then again, he was given to me by Arceus, it made sense that the big guy would make sure Riker would be able to hold his own in a fight.

That did not stop me from looking down at my phone with wide eyes as I said "Holy, I feel like I was just given an A Class weapon at the start of a Fire Emblem game." Glancing back at Riker, I asked "And you don't feel confident in Battling with this Move list, why?"

Riker somehow seemed to shrug as he stated "While I know these Moves, I have never actually used them before, having been created only shortly before being assigned to you."

I blinked and said "Alright yeah, that makes sense." Looks like I'd have to make sure Riker wasn't actually a Glass Cannon before I wound up having to use him in Battle. (Continuing the Fire Emblem analogy, the 'Glass' weapons in Awakening had been incredibly strong for E rank weapons but they had only had three uses before they broke.)

It was at that point that Gloria ran over to the table I was sitting at and asked "Matt, aren't you going to try and Battle the others with your Pokémon?"

I craned my head to look over my shoulder at the battlefield. Going by the sounds I was hearing, Leon and his Charmander were taking on Bea and her Machop now. Turning back towards Davis, I raised an eyebrow and pointed my thumb behind me as I asked "Want to get in on that action?"

Davis punched his fist into his palm again with an eager cry and I stood up offering him my arm to return to my shoulder before I followed Gloria back to the others. Hopefully I could fight someone other than the unbeatable Leon...

END

Matt's Pokémon:

Riker: Porygon, Male, Serious Nature: No Stat Boost or Debuff

Davis: Scorbunny (Starter), Male, Jolly Nature: Boosted Speed, Lowered Sp. Attk

Author's Notes:

Well, here we are, by popular demand adding another story to the roster. Here's hoping I can stack up to people's expectations for this one. Now all of you people who wanted this, go to the poll on my profile and cast your votes for January-February's stories. It has been nineteen days since the current poll started and there are still only ELEVEN Voters who have made their choices.