*First time trying out publishing a story on this site so sorry if I do something wrong.
*The overall feel of this story is meant to be light-hearted, but I intend for it to have a little bit of everything.
*It's an AU which means most things will be same but some things such as gym leaders and events will differ.
*When correcting grammar/spelling in a review I would deeply appreciate it if you explained what was wrong so I can improve in the future.
The day had finally come; the day every aspiring trainer looks forward to. Normally things would follow the same basic pattern they always have. The trainer wakes up, they receive their first Pokemon, and then they go off on a journey across the continent challenging all those they come across to prove their strength and bond.
At least that's how it should have gone. For a soon to be trainer by the strange name of Dupe things took a strange turn. Looking into the mirror usually the reflection would be of a rather plain looking young man of sixteen years. Short black unstyled hair, with an average build, the type of person that would blend right into a crowd. That morning however was different. In place of his regular eyes were beady dots and place of his mouth was nothing more than a slit. He had the so called "ditto face".
"Oh dear I knew this would happen someday, I just wasn't sure when." Stated Dupes mom, after an admittedly deserved but short freakout Dupe had went downstairs to ask her for help. They were both currently seated down in the living room, one across from the other, and of course Dupe still had the same blank expression on his face.
"What do you mean you knew this day would come?!" Exclaimed Dupe, though his face made each time he talked a bit of a ridiculous sight.
"I have a bit of a confession to make hun" Stated Dupes mom "there's a reason why you've never met your father." She then took a deep breath as if to calm herself before exclaiming almost all at once "Your father was a ditto!"
"What…?" Was all that Dupe could utter at the mere ridiculousness of the whole thing. "You're joking right?"
"I'm afraid not hun, I was afraid to tell you because I didn't know how you'd react" she said apologizing.
Dupe still couldn't believe what he was hearing but decided to humor the possibility regardless, after all he didn't really have much of a choice otherwise. "Alright assuming that's the case; why is it that whatever is happening is just now happening?"
"You're what they call a Hybrid sweetie" She explained. Hybrids were apparently a rare occurrence that could happen when two Pokemon of different species breed. Usually what would happen is the resulting Pokemon would follow the species of whatever the mother was, in rare cases a Pokemon that's a sort of mix between the two could also hatch.
Another strange thing about this phenomenon was that unlike normal inheritance of moves and abilities happening at birth, most hybrids grow into their other parents abilities over time, usually after maturing.
Finally while Pokemon and human relationships are frowned upon, more or less depending upon the species, it is not prohibited. There is even the possibility of a child but it is almost always a hybrid with a more human like appearance.
"But wait, I thought when a Dittos… breeds…," he felt weird saying breed considering the circumstances but continued, "the offspring is never a ditto?" 'More importantly though…' he thought "Does that mean I hatched from an egg?!" He exclaimed
"Uh-huh, that's part of the reason I never told you. I was never one hundred percent certain that you were a hybrid. As for the egg thing don't be rediculous sweetie, you have a bellybutton don't you?" She replied
"So does that mean I have like weird abilities or something?" While still a bit put off by the whole situation Dupe couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the thought of having cool powers.
Dupes mom sighed "Hun, maybe you should focus on fixing that before considering those sorts of things" that obviously being the predicament involving his face. "Besides aren't you supposed to be somewhere right now?" She reminded him.
He had honestly completely forgotten about his face being ditto-fied what with the whole revelation of being half ditto. "Ah, I completely forgot! I still need to go to the professor and get my first Pokemon!" He got up to leave before getting stopped by his mom.
"Before you go, take this with you." She handed him what appeared to be an old photo. But when Dupe looked at the photo he couldn't believe what was on it.
"This… you can't be serious right?" On the photo was what appeared to be an amorphous pink blob with facial hair. It was a ditto with a moustache.
"Completely." His mother stated. "This is a photo of your father. You see being a Ditto and all there's a possibility that you may have siblings out there, this photo might help identify them."
Dupe stared at her deadpan, even without the ditto face he most likely would have been making a face similar to one. He honestly didn't even know how to respond to what she just said. Ultimately he decided to just ignore to whole moustache nonsense and focus on just the sibling thing.
"So you're telling me that not only is it possible that I have siblings… but it's also possible that some of them may be full Pokemon somehow?" He started before again switching focus. "No… more importantly how is THIS supposed to help me identify whether or not I'm related to someone?!" He said waving the photo around for emphasis.
"It's simple." His mom replied. "Just show the photo to anyone who happens to have a Ditto parent and they'll be able to tell you themselves."
"Mom, I think you're forgetting the fact that he'd be transformed, not to mention there's a chance that they wouldn't even know they have a Ditto parent…" Dupe responded
"Just trust me on this one Hun, now get going; you're already practically late" She reminded.
After finishing getting ready and giving his heartfelt goodbyes to his mother he finally set off on his journey. Luckily he finally managed to fix his face before he left his house. It seemed that he was able to morph his face with a bit of concentration. And while it took concentration to change his face, keeping it a certain way took none at all. That being said, much to his disappointment that was all he was capable of at the moment.
Dupe lived in a small town in the outskirts of Kanto by the name of Mimi town. It honestly could hardly be called a town though. There was nothing more than a handful of buildings that made up the town. Mimi town happened to be located a bit south of Fuschia city so that was where he would be heading after receiving his first Pokemon. For now he was headed towards the biggest building in the town; the one where a Pokemon professor by the name of Kunal does his research.
Within the moderately sized building there were a few people here and there messing with various devices that Dupe didn't really know the purpose of. Within the heart of the building however sitting at a desk was professor Kunal. Even though he was currently sitting you could tell that he was above average height. Unlike what you'd expect of the head professor he was actually quite young looking, he looked to be between late twenties to early thirties; though he was actually quite older than that. His real age he never seemed to reveal though. As for his face if one were to look closely they would see the presence of bags under his eyes and light stubble on his face.
"Well, if it isn't Dupe, what brings you to my humble little research center?" Professor Kunal saw Dupe entering and greeted him with a smile that betrayed the exhaustion on his face.
Dupe stared at the professor in confusion "Today's the day I get my Pokemon remember?"
"Gah, that was today?! I'm sorry Dupe I completely lost track of time. I'm afraid I don't have a Pokemon ready for you" Professor Kunal admitted.
Dupe sighed it was to be expected, he had known Kunal for awhile in this is just the way he is. In fact he happened to be a good friend of Dupes father, which in light of recent events is quite odd now that he thought about it.
"So you don't have any Pokemon available? Not even one?" Asked Dupe in desperation.
"Well…" started the professor, much to Dupes elation, while rummaging around he pulled out a pokeball. "I do have this Pokemon available."
Dupe watched in suspense as the professor pressed the button releasing a bright flash of light. This could very well be the meeting of his first Pokemon. The Pokemon he would travel the world with.
Unfortunately the reveal did not quite live up to the hype. The Pokemon in question was a scaley red fish creature with white and gold fins adorning it. It was flopping on the floor pitifully gasping in futile attempts to breathe.
"Really?... A Magikarp?" Dupes face was melting from the disappointment. Literally melting actually on account of the whole ditto thing.
"Dear Arceus man, what's wrong with your face?!" Questioned professor Kunal
"If anyone would know it would be you, but forget that! What am I supposed to do with a Magikarp?! I don't even think it can breathe properly…" Stated Dupe while fixing his face
"Karp! Karp! Magikarp!" Flailing around angrily the Magikarp appeared to be trying to say something in rebuttal. What he happened to actually be saying was something along the lines of "Foolish child! I will show you with I am capable of! Mark my words I will have my revenge!" However this went completely ignored by the two for obvious reasons.
"Nonsense! This Magikarp is the picture of health for it's species. Besides some salesman sold me it for five hundred pokedollars and I honestly I have no clue what to do with it" Kunal said laughing sheepishly.
Kunal sighed as he returned Magikarp to its pokeball. "Alright fine, there is one last option.
I have some empty pokeballs you can take to catch your own Pokemon but I wouldn't recommend it. However I'm only doing this considering the unique circumstances."
Dupe happened to be completely okay with that. In his mind this was pretty preferable to a Magikarp that most likely only knows splash as a move.
And with that Dupe bid his goodbyes to the professor and received a total of ten pokeballs to catch a Pokemon with. Because he was unable to weaken them, he knew he had his work cut out for him. But in a way that in itself kind of excited him. It felt like he'd actually earn his first Pokemon instead of being handed to him.
*Well, that's the first chapter to my first story. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Next chapter I reveal his first Pokemon so stay tuned if you're curious. :P