Hello, it's my first story and English is not my language, I'm using an A.I. to translate this so I imagine there will be some mistakes, just say it and I'll fix it! Thank you for understanding!

I stood still, observing the port of Vermillion for a few minutes, and I couldn't help but feel emotional. It felt so good to be back home. Kanto held a very strong nostalgic pull for me. Even after traveling through nine regions, five of which were outside the Alliance, Kanto remained the most beautiful to me. I suppose this is what they mean by "home sweet home."

"We're back, Umbreon. From now on, this will be our permanent home," I explained to my partner, who was walking beside me, sniffing and adjusting to the new scents.

Umbreon was getting a lot of attention, with some people even taking photos. I was surprised when I saw smartphones. When I left on my adventure, these things were just starting to hit the market but weren't popular yet. Kanto was still quite backward when it came to technology; only a few cities had adapted well.

My first stop was the Pokémon Center in Vermillion. When arriving in Kanto or any region of the Alliance, it's mandatory to check in at a Pokémon Center to register your arrival. This way, they keep track of trainers, knowing where they've been and what they've done. It even helps with locating missing trainers.

After a basic check-in, I headed to the storage where I remembered leaving some belongings over 20 years ago when I left Kanto. As I lifted the metal gate, the smell of age hit me—dust and rust. I found my old bike. Man, how long has it been? But there's no way I'm riding that thing.

I decided to hire a delivery service to send the old bike to Dark City within seven days. I chose to walk there. Nostalgia had really taken over, but Dark City was between Vermillion and Celadon, relatively close, so I could walk. As I made my way down the road, I found myself acknowledging that, despite battling the strongest trainers from all the known regions, encountering almost every Pokémon I had ever wanted— even some Legendary ones—I had never done anything in Kanto.

When I got my trainer's license, instead of starting the Kanto journey, I decided to begin in Johto and fulfill all my desires there. My mission was too difficult not to take seriously, and I truly wanted to complete it.

I still remember when I was just a Pokémon YouTuber, doing Nuzlockes of Fire/Red Omega, imposing the toughest restrictions—no deaths, no items, and a team with only one typing. People called me crazy and masochistic, but I enjoyed the challenge. So when I died and was offered a mission, I accepted it gladly.

I admit, when I found myself in that white room with a humanoid version of Arceus, I might have thought I'd gone mad. But I adapted quickly and accepted that I was going to the Pokémon world. Unlike how the stories I read went, "God" wasn't in a hurry to send me to my next life. I could make my decisions with calm and intelligence.

A translucent blue screen appeared in front of me, and then the humanoid Arceus spoke: "Ever played Project Zomboid?"

Yes, that's right. The screen showed me a character selection screen identical to Project Zomboid, and on the far right, I could see a list of "Life Objectives," so to speak. There were things like [Pokémon Master, [Elite Four, [Team Rocket, among others. Now you might be thinking, "Well, if there's a Pokémon Master, isn't the choice obvious?" Yes, but in Project Zomboid, nothing comes for free.

The "talent" [Pokémon Master] would grant me the "Protagonist's Aura," essentially giving me a series of buffs like {Pokémon Battle Genius: grants the user a greater understanding of Pokémon battles and how to win them}, {Loved by Legends: Legendary Pokémon will feel an affinity towards the user}, {Luck in Causality: whenever the user is in a time of need or danger, things will tend to work out in their favor}. There were other minor buffs related to breeding Pokémon, but according to the selection screen, Pokémon Master cost 35 points. I'd be 35 points in the negative and would need to make up for it with negative points.

Additionally, the [Pokémon Master] "class" came with a "Life Objective" to become a Pokémon Master, meaning I'd have to become a Pokémon Master to complete the mission.

Now you might ask, "But don't you like challenges?" Hold on, young Padawan. The thing is, I could have more than one class. For example, the [Pokémon Trainer] class was simple and straightforward. But would that prevent me from becoming a Pokémon Master later? No, I'd just need to fulfill the "Achievement." For instance, upon receiving a trainer's license, I'd automatically gain the Pokémon Trainer class with its associated benefits, thus holding two classes. The system merely quantified and clarified the benefits.

I explored the interface thoroughly, from top to bottom, left to right, and only after spending over three hours studying the possibilities and deciding what I wanted to become in this new life did I start making my choices.

~~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~~

Name: Lucius Blackwood

Class: [Gym Leader]

Mission: [Strongest Gym in the Region: Make your Gym known as the strongest in the region]

Reward: 1 billion Pokédollars, 1 diamond surprise box, 1 Master Ball

Selected Perks: Genius

Mission for the Perk: Be recognized worldwide as a genius.

Reward: Knowledge beyond mortality.

[Genius in Dark-Type Pokémon Breeding: You understand everything about raising Dark-type Pokémon. You are capable of developing new methods for caring for these types.]

[Genius in Pokéblocks: You learn quickly how to make any Pokéblock and can create new Pokéblocks through experimentation.]

[Genius in Pokémon Battles: Grants the user a deeper understanding of Pokémon battles and how to win them.]

[Genius in Battle Planning: The user is skilled in predicting how battles will unfold.]

[Genius of Effort: They call you a genius, but they don't know how much you've worked for it. Through effort, the user can learn and understand anything.]

Selected Drawbacks: Walker of Darkness

Mission for the Drawback: Prove that Dark-type is the strongest. Defeat the Elite Four and Champion of your region using only Dark-type Pokémon.

Reward: The user will be able to capture any Dark-type Pokémon they wish, regardless of the Pokémon's personality.

[Dark Aura: The user has Dark-type Aura, meaning that unless the Pokémon has the Dark-type, it's impossible to train them.]

[Vampire of the Night: As soon as the sun sets on the horizon, the user's mind becomes more active, capable of thinking faster and even on multiple things simultaneously. At night, the user does not feel tired or mentally fatigued. However, during the day, the user feels mentally exhausted.]

[Night Vision: The user can see in the dark, and at night, can see long distances. However, during the day, the user finds everything too bright, causing headaches.]

[Welcome to the Dark Side: Dark-type Pokémon are naturally drawn to the user, becoming more receptive to conversations and capture. However, Fighting, Bug, and Fairy-type Pokémon naturally feel hostility toward the user, being more likely to attack without provocation.]

[Darkness Sensor: Similar to 'Haki of Observation,' the user can sense anything touched by the night. The range is extensive, and Dark-type Pokémon can be sensed more easily. The user becomes incapable of sensing Fighting, Bug, and Fairy-types within their domain.]

~~~~~~~X~~~~~~~

Well, if I had to say, 'Drawbacks' might be an exaggeration. They're not entirely bad. I always liked Dark-types anyway; aside from being the most aesthetically pleasing, they had some of the strongest Pokémon—of course, if you exclude Dragon-types.

Having made my choices, I approached the humanoid Arceus and informed them that I had finished. It was like talking to an AI. They didn't seem particularly pleased or displeased with my decisions; they simply nodded and touched my forehead, and poof, I was in the crib of an orphanage.

Not having parents was sad but also peaceful. As someone reincarnated, it would have been difficult to form genuine bonds with parents knowing that I had probably taken over their child's body.

The orphanage where I was born was in Dark City, a relatively small town between Vermillion and Celadon. I remember it being portrayed in the anime as almost destroyed in some sort of gang war between two unofficial gyms, K's and Y's. However, as I grew up, I didn't see any of that. The city was beautiful and highly touristy, famous for a mine rich in Evolution Stones. Many trainers came to the city in search of these, as we bordered Stone Town, sharing a mountain.

As soon as I could stand, I started frequenting the local library, studying everything I could about Dark City, the city itself was quite old, but very quiet. It was only in the last 10 years that the Evolution Stone mine was discovered, and there were already signs of decline in production. The estimates were bad—I predicted that in at most another 10 or 15 years, the mine would be considered 'dry' and abandoned.

Before the mine, Dark City was considered a nice place to retire, with nothing special or any local specialty. The only characteristic that marked the city and also gave it its name was the chain of mountains surrounding it. It could very well have been named Valley City, but that name already existed. The city was surrounded by tall mountains that were relatively bent towards Dark City, as if we were being shielded from the sun.

Due to this curious geological formation, Dark City only saw the sun for about 6 hours a day. Even though the sun rose at the usual time, we wouldn't start seeing it until around 10 a.m., and it would disappear behind the peak of the other mountain at 4 p.m. It was still daylight, but without direct sunlight. This had a strong effect on the local fauna. Around the city, there was a lush forest, where the trees had grown darker. The forest was named the Dark Forest, but in truth, there wasn't a single Dark-type Pokémon there. It was just because it was very dark.

Unlike Viridian, which was full of Bug-type Pokémon, the Dark Forest was full of Rattatas, Sandshrews, and Spearows. At the edge of the forest, where it bordered the mountains, there were many caves, where one could often spot Geodudes and even an occasional Onix.

Dark City had a gym, an official gym certified by the Alliance, but it didn't have a single typing. It was a generalist gym. Its leader was Bran Stromer, an old bounty hunter who had come to the quiet city to retire and seek peace. His ace Pokémon was a relatively strong Rhydon. According to the stories told by the orphanage matrons, Bran had reached the league finals in his prime and could compete directly with Pryce in his youth.

Pryce was the champion, Lorelei's grandfather, and his ace was a truly powerful Piloswine, originally from Mahogany City in Johto. He had held the champion title for 10 years, and from what I understood of the timeline, he would hold onto it for another 15 to 18 years until Lance finally defeated him and took the title.

Although Bran had indeed battled Pryce, he wasn't a major challenge or a top-tier trainer, but he had lived his life to the fullest and retired with honor. What worried me were his two gym trainers, the minions from the games we have to defeat to face the gym leader. They were two teenagers: one was named Kazi, and the other was Yan. Kazi owned an Elekid, and Yan, the stronger of the two, had a Scyther.

I knew they were the leaders of gyms K and Y, who in the future would ruin Dark City with their constant fighting. This was especially clear when they came to the orphanage to show off their Pokémon to entertain the kids. It only took a few minutes before they started arguing about who was stronger and began battling. It was quite the spectacle. Pokémon were different in real life than on screens; they were true weapons of war. The Scyther was just a blur due to its speed, and just hearing the buzzing from Elekid sent shivers down my arms. I couldn't understand how these things were given to teenagers to fight with—it was madness.

I spent my childhood exercising my genius skills, studying everything I could. I focused mainly on survival skills, things that would help me in the wilderness. To complete my missions, I wanted to do a sort of "Nuzlocke," so to speak. No, I wouldn't abandon Pokémon that lost in battle, but I decided I would only start doing missions when I was 100% powerful, with all my Pokémon strong and ready for the League.

When I turned 12, I had two choices. I could go to the gym leader of my city to get a starter Pokémon, or I could try my luck on my own. The second option was highly frowned upon and usually ended badly—like death. Yes, children died in the Pokémon world, actually quite frequently. But most were simply considered missing, and society had evolved to see this as normal—sad, but normal.

Once, I overheard the headmistress talking with one of the caretakers about a child who had gone on an adventure. The Alliance sent a letter explaining that it had been months since anyone had heard from them, with the last known location being the Viridian Forest. They sighed and changed the subject.

I was hesitant about the first option. Bran was a good trainer. Whenever it was time for orphans and even some local kids to become trainers, he would catch a few Pokémon from the forest to serve as starters. And he was pretty generous, avoiding Rattatas and usually getting a Spearow or a Geodude, which he considered better. The problem was that I couldn't command any Pokémon that wasn't Dark-type or didn't have a future evolution into a Dark-type.

For many years, I wandered the shores of Dark City in search of a Corphish. I even asked around, but that Pokémon wasn't common in the area, leaving me at a dead end. Through my Dark Sense, I could tell there wasn't a single Dark-type Pokémon in the city or nearby.

It was around this time that I saw a commercial on TV for a school-level competition where students could take a general knowledge test for trainers in Saffron. The prize was an Eevee. My eyes lit up like diamonds.

I was considered a genius in the city. Unlike in movies and anime, I didn't suffer bullying from other kids because of it. Everyone admired me. My grades were perfect, and I was always seen in the library. It wasn't hard to convince the headmistress that I could win the competition, which was in two months. She seemed to have a relationship with Bran and convinced him to take me and a few other kids who wanted to compete in Saffron.

There was no mystery—the questions were all basic-level, knowledge about how to survive in the wild, how to handle stronger Pokémon in an attack situation, what to do and not do. It was easy. A month before I was set to begin my journey, I had a Luxury Ball on my belt. Saffron was worthy of being the commercial center of Kanto. The mayor spared no expense on the prize, and the Eevee was even the offspring of a champion-level Flareon.

One month later, I was walking out of Dark City with an Eevee by my side and a regular cloth backpack on my shoulders.

Now, today, I stand at the entrance to Dark City, with an Umbreon by my side and a space-age Silph Co. backpack on my back.

The wooden sign was broken, one side falling down. I could see graffiti of some Ks and Ys on either side. From a distance, I could make out the buildings, vandalized and destroyed.

I felt my mood darken and my heart grow cold. The shadow beneath my feet flickered, and an attentive observer would notice that the shadows of the trees around me trembled too. In my shadow, a pair of glowing diamond eyes could be seen, awakened by the shimmer of my Dark Aura.

"Those two idiots are going to learn a life lesson today..." I muttered as I walked toward the city.

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