DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON

|PROLOGUE

He woke suddenly with a gasp.

Only to start coughing as his lungs filled with dirty water. "Uggh!" he gagged, spitting out the grainy water in his mouth.

He pushed his hands underneath his chest and lifted himself up out of the mud. Panting deeply, he stared at the muddy slop his face had just been buried in.

"What the hell?" he muttered, swallowing a lump in his throat.

He looked around, taking in the world around him, his eyes darting back and forth in panic.

A moment later they shot wide open and he jumped to his feet. "Why I am outside?" he panicked, his head rapidly turning from side to side as he looked around trying to get his bearings.

He was in the middle of a dirt road that had turned mostly to mud. Small puddles were scattered here and there along the road and just a dozen feet away was a raging river. There were storm clouds above him and drops of rain were rolling down his cheek. He saw lightning flash past the mountains in the distance and the sound of thunder rang out.

"How did I get outside?" he wondered out loud.

Searching through his pockets for his phone to call for help, he frowned when he pulled it out. He'd been using iPhones for as long as he could remember. After getting his first in high school it was just easier to keep the same number and move all his contacts to the next generation.

The "phone" he pulled out of his pocket didn't even look like a phone. It was more like an orange brick with a camera bulb at the top corner and he knew exactly what it was. He used to have a toy version as a kid and had been using one in the Pokémon video games since he started playing them.

He flicked it open like a book, and on the screen was a map being displayed. I can't believe this...

Because there was a bright blue dot showing his location, and he was right in the middle of a long tan line labeled Route 1. To his south was a red square labeled Pallet Town and to the north was another: Viridian City.

He quickly found the trainer profile tab, and almost screamed in frustration when he saw the information on display.

There was a picture of an orange-haired teen with two bangs shaped like an X crossing over his forehead. Underneath the picture was the basic information about him.

Trainer— Cross

Gender— Male

Age— 16

Hometown— Paniola Town

Region— Kanto

Pokémon—Charmander

Wait!

I have a Charmander! The realization hit him like a bolt of lightning.

He stuffed the pokédex back in his pocket and swung the backpack hanging off his shoulders. It felt too light to be packed effectively for cross-country travel, but he could deal with that later. He unzipped the zipper and he could have cried at the sight of the small group of shiny red and white balls sitting inside.

One...two...three...four...five...six!

He had played nearly all of the Pokémon games so he for a fact that five was the amount of empty poké balls given to any new trainer in every game after FireRed and LeafGreen.

The sixth ball held a trainer's starter pokémon.

He started grabbing poké balls and opening them. Three were empty and his heart was sinking in his chest until the four popped open and a beam of red light exploded out of the ball.

When the light was gone, there was a Charmander standing in front of him!

He stared down at the little orange pokémon. It was a short thing, its head only reaching to his knees, but he knew that eventually, it would be a massive and powerful Charizard.

And it's going to be mine!

I'm going to have a Charizard!

Cross—like it or not that was who he was now—would not be an idiot and release Charmander. Even after years of new games and new Pokémon, Charizard was still easily a top 5 Pokémon to him.

Sure, he was screwing Ash over, but the future pokémon master had protagonist luck so Cross was sure the "Main Character" of this world would be able to find another Charmander.

Cross pulled out the pokédex and aimed it had Charmander. The small creature looked up at him. The pokédex scanned it and gave Cross the summary on Charmander.

Charmander, the lizard pokémon. A flame burns on the tip of its tail from birth. It is said that a Charmander dies if its flame ever goes out. Gender: Make, Height: 2'00.

This Charmander knows the moves: Scratch, Bite, and Growl.

Suddenly, Cross heard someone shouting over the rain.

"Hang in there! We're almost at Viridian City!"

On the dirt road that was Route 1, Forrest saw...Ash Ketchum?

The person shouting was a ten-year-old Ash Ketchum speeding along on a bike. Curled up in the basket on the front of the bike was an injured Pikachu.

"Come one, Pikachu! Just a little farther!" Ash was shouting.

Cross could barely hear him over the rain. But, louder still was the sound of flapping wings. A lot of wings. He already had an idea of what the noise was and looked up to confirm it. Lightning flashed past the mountains in the distance illuminating the dark sky, and he saw a giant flock of small bird-like Pokémon that moved across the sky like a cloud. Their numbers were so great that the air itself trembled, and ripples formed on the water's surface in the river.

The bubbling waves gradually closed in.

Their numbers were...almost uncountable. There were a lot of them. Just the sound of their wings flapping was louder than a biker gang revving their engines. If he were to stick to just comparing it to other flying things, it would probably also be louder than a fleet of helicopters.

Normally, tiny bird Pokémon wouldn't be flying in the rain, but the Spearow were so caught up on chasing Pikachu and Ash that they didn't seem to notice the rain at all. Even when the rain became a fierce downpour the Spearow wouldn't call off their attack.

Instead, they began swooping and attacking.

Frozen in place, Cross watched as the Spearow attacked Ash and Pikachu.

With dark storm clouds and the Spearow surrounding them, the sky seemed to be pitch dark. The road was practically nothing but mud now, and the handles of Misty's bike were probably slippery and difficult to grasp.

Still, Ash managed to keep control and blew past him on the bike. Cross knew eventually Ash would fall, and maybe it was selfish of him, but he was glad it didn't happen near him. He didn't want to be caught up in the Spearow attack, or worse be collateral damage when Pikachu friend them all.

He watched Ash pedal away as if his life depended on it—because it probably did—and then a second later, the mass of Spearow passed over his head.

Cross was blown off his feet by the sheer force of the wind generated by their flapping wings. The flock of Spearow paid him no mind as they pursued the bike. Their only interest was in Ash and Pikachu.

Which did confirm one thing. If this wasn't some delusion or a fever dream, he was not in the Pokémon games. He was in the anime.

Cross shook his head. Fever dream or not, he didn't have time to panic or think it over. He needed to find food and shelter. I have to get to Viridian City, he thought, knowing that in the anime the Pokémon Centers gave free room and food to Pokémon trainers. Viridian would be his first stop then, and from there he'd decide what to do next.

...And maybe teach Charmander how to use Metal Claw. Thanks to watching the anime, he had a good idea of how to train Charmander to do that. It would be his best move against Brock if he did decide to compete in the Indigo League.

Hopefully, I'll run into some trainers on the way so I can make some money, Cross lifted up his extremely light bag. If he was going to travel Kanto and battle Gym Leaders, then he was going to need better supplies. He'd seen Ash and his friends, as well as Team Rocket complaining about being cold, tired, wet, and hungry out in the wilderness.