Episode 2: Pallet Town

In the house, I wasn't really sure what Pallet Town would look like, whether it'd have the game layout of just four buildings for a "town," or whether it'd be more like from the animation series, with a rich layout of an actual rustic town. I'm glad it was the latter.

I'm sure it isn't like any other town that I would know, since this world isn't the one from my previous life. The economics and interactions of townships would behave completely different, especially with the existence of Pokemon…

Oh my god! Pokemon! I had been forgetting the most important thing! This world had POKEMON! I could catch, train, and interact with REAL Pokemon! Oh god, what would they look like? My heart started to beat more quickly. I started to look around in excitement, but I couldn't see any other residential houses.

It didn't take long before I realized what I needed to do. I needed to head North, towards Route 1, upon entering which Professor Oak was supposed to stop me, take me back to his lab, and give me… my very own… STARTER POKEMON!

Now I was giddy with excitement. I looked back at my house, and saw mom still standing there, waving at me and smiling.

"Hey, mom! Which way's North?" I shouted.

She pointed to the direction directly opposite of where the front door was facing. Ah, of course. Directly towards the back of the house. How could I not have guessed.

And that means… ah, there it was. To the right of my house, across the street, was another just like mine, but noticeably better. Richer. Gary's house.

I smiled at the predictability of this world. Everything was like a real-world, but the overall framework was that of the original game! It was as if Universal Studios Japan came and made a giant Kanto region theme park (all jokes aside, this is an effing great idea, someone make some phone calls)!

I waved at my mom and started to walk on the road, towards Route 1 and saw, maybe a few hundred yards down the dirt road, the entrance to a more bushy and foresty area. That must be it!

I was already thinking about what my starter Pokemon should be when a thought occurred and stopped me dead in my tracks.

What version am I in?

I realized that this was of tremendous importance. Depending on the version of the original Kanto region Pokemon game, I could have the choice between the three starter Pokemon or I could… get… a Pikachu?

THAT'S SO LAME!

I mean, no offense to Pikachu-lovers and Pikachu itself (herself?), and even I myself liked the friendship between Ash and Pikachu from the animation series, but… as a starter Pokemon? That's definitely not bound to be my first choice of Pokemon!

I didn't know what to do, but I've always been the kind of person to assess the situation before making any decisions. I did a 180 and started walking South.

Here's why:

Normally, in the games, Professor Oak wouldn't be in the lab at this point, and you'd have to try to walk out of Pallet Town to the North when he'd interrupt you and bring you to his lab. In his lab, then, he'd give you the first pick of three starter Pokemon (Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander). Or, if this weird afterlife was the Yellow version after all (urgh), he'd give you a Pikachu. I wasn't going to let things go this way if I could help it.

I walked for about five minutes and I could already see, to the left ahead of me, a big, industrial-looking building. It had to be Professor Oak's lab. I didn't see anyone on the road or outside of the building. There were multiple small windows on the side of the building, fortunately. In the game it's unclear whether there are any windows, but just like the characters in this world, the buildings (and probably the natural world itself) could exist logically as long as it served its scripted role in my Pokemon journey. Therefore, I knew that the entrance would be on the South side of the building. Just to be safe, I went around the back of the building (no windows there), and snuck up to the East side, where I could easily peek in the windows. It was easy to be stealthy in the body of a small ten year-old boy, especially when the world was scripted to be an underpopulated land.

There were a few younger men and women in lab coats (Professor Oak's aides, of course), walking about near the only entrance to the lab. They were using the computer, occasionally referring to paper publications. And, to the back of the lab, no professor, as was expected, but … aha! There he is! Gary, my supposed rival, the super-arrogant, self-absorbed fool that creepily followed you (but also somehow always ahead of you) throughout the whole journey. He had the whole spikey/bushy hair and everything! Good, he hasn't noticed me sneaking around.

It was important to note that he was there, but more importantly, between him and the window I was peeking in through there were three Pokeballs, laid in a row on a lab table like merchandise displayed in an Apple Store. So it wasn't Yellow version, after all, thank god! It was the original first-gen Kanto game that topped the must-have toy lists of the late 90's - early 2000's era. I remembered, literally a lifetime ago, the playground debates of whether Red version or the Blue version was better (nobody had Green in my neighbourhood), and the crazy times battling one another using connection cords, etc. Ah good times…

I caught myself smiling at the three Pokeballs, forgetting for a minute that I had actually died and this was a weird afterlife. I could actually TOUCH the Pokeballs. Professor Oak would ask me to choose one. I wondered what Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander would look like.. In real life! I even remembered a conversation I had with a friend in the past life, saying how awesome it would be if you could start the game with all three starters… Wait. WAIT.

WAITTTTTT WHATTTTTTT

Why don't I do just that? It's not like the Pokeballs are under lock and key, hidden away in a safe, or stored on the PC like they are in this world. They're just out there, RIGHT THERE on the lab table, waiting for the game to prompt Prof. Oak to bring… well, ME, into the lab. Until then, Prof. Oak wouldn't even be there! He's literally nowhere to be found within Pallet Town until I set foot in the grass North of town! God knows where he is right now. As far as this world is concerned, he hasn't "spawned" yet!

I looked into the lab to make sure nothing had changed. I half expected some digital screen to pop-up in front of my face to tell me I couldn't do that, that I had to go make my way into Route 1. Right now.

But instead, I saw Gary. And he was just STANDING THERE LIKE AN IDIOT. He was scripted to wait for my arrival, and not just by myself, but with Professor Oak. Then, and only then, would he pick the starter Pokemon, and only after I had chosen first. The whole mechanic of the game was that he'd make his choice based on what counters my own choice (you all know this, don't you?). But now, because of this scripted action, he had no desire or interest in the Pokeballs at all.

Oh, this was too good. Too, too good.

At first, being born again into this ten year-old boy's body was weird and scary. It's only been a few hours, and I missed my REAL family, my family from my previous life. I wanted to hug my parents and my sister one more time. I also wanted to say proper goodbyes to my friends, have one final pint of beer with them.

But when I thought about what being in this body in this world meant, the more excited I got. First of all, as far as I could tell, I had a healthy body. When I was ten in my previous life, I was going in for regular check-ups at the children's hospital to make sure my heart was doing okay. It was stressful for my entire family, and it was scary!

Now, I'm not only healthy, but also free! Free to roam in this world. It didn't have a regular school for kids, or any other institutions that I needed to go to. As far as I could tell, my only obligation was to catch and train Pokemon!

And if it wasn't already really awesome that I was in this Pokemon world, I was apparently the protagonist of the original game! Things would supposedly work around my actions, and Gary just standing there waiting for his grandpa, Professor Oak, instead of taking the sweet starter Pokemon for himself was evidence enough for me.

ANDDDDDD

If it wasn't already super effing awesome that I was the PROTAGONIST in this POKEMON world, I was also still ME, the me from my previous life, armed with the intellect and experience of a thirty year-old man, who, despite having a genetic heart condition that cut his life short, had otherwise lived a normal life. I went through school, university, and even had a job. I had knowledge of a whole other world that transcended this one. After all, it was people from this other world that created this one.

This made me very excited, dissipating any anxiety I had about being in this body and in this world.

I was going to become a freaking Pokemon master.