Arc 1: Otherworldly Roots
One
A woman wearing a dark blue and silver uniform stepped through some underbrush. Her orange hair contrasted her uniform and her light blue skin. There was a thin visor above her eyes, providing her with information about the local flora.
"Zossie here. There seems to be Ultra Wormhole energy present at my location. Seems likely an Ultra Beast will appear within the next week."
The orange-haired girl–Zossie–awaited a response while she held a remote-looking device with an antenna in a sparkling part of the air. This device was the Ultra Sensor and its job is to detect Ultra Wormhole Energy.
After a few minutes, a voice responded.
"Dulse here. I have received word from the higher-ups at Ultra Megalopolis to keep an eye on this energy. Its origin is from an unknown source and we must study whatever creature may come through. Also, please keep out of sight. The Fiore region is outside our jurisdiction, it is not one of the true 9. Please stay vigilant."
Zossie pondered for a second until she responded, "Yes sir!"
At the same time, a man was preparing to move to college.
XxXxXxX
Joseph Baller, Joseph pronounced Yoseph, was packing for college. He only took the essentials such as his laptop, notebooks, and every console he owned.
"Aaaand, I think that is everything."
Joseph wiped his brow and looked over towards the clock, it read 03:23.
"Well isn't this a perfect time to play some games?"
Despite it being extremely late into the night, Joseph turned on his pc and started playing. However, Joseph was not the type of person to play multiplayer fps games. No, he was more the type to play single-player metroidvanias. Currently, he is in the middle of a game where the protagonist is a person searching for penitence, killing grotesque monsters created as a result of a miracle.
Eventually, time passed and the clock read a ripe hour of 06:44 and Joseph finally believed it to be time for bed.
His body felt extremely light. Almost as if it was floating when he walked towards the bed. But then Joseph looked up and realized he wasn't just feeling like he was floating. He was being sucked through a white wormhole.
"Wait, what the fuck is this? Did I get to the point of insomnia where I am hallucinating now? Let me down!"
Joseph's protests were to no avail, and as fast as he realized its existence, the wormhole sucked him through and his body disappeared from Earth.
XxXxXxX
A bright light shone on Joseph as he slowly rose from the grassy underbrush. His thoughts were racing until he noticed the wormhole he came through close behind him.
Realizing he had no way back, Joseph started scanning the area. He has read enough isekai light novels to know the different possibilities which he muttered to himself.
"Judging from the environment I am in, it is unlikely I was summoned by any god with a quest to save the world. If anything, I am more or less alone in this area."
Joseph would have looked extremely composed to any hypothetical onlookers. However in reality was shivering in his timbers. He had no idea where he was. He had no friends in this world. He had nothing but his own will.
Just then, Joseph heard scuttling in a nearby bush. He immediately jumped away, not wanting to take any risks. Without any cheat powers, he is just a broke-ass college student and he did not want to meet a preemptive end.
While Joseph stared at the bush, a little critter walked out. Not just any critter. It was a dedenne. Seeing this dedenne, Joseph immediately paled. He kneeled and started panicking externally now.
"T-This can't be happening...right? The world of Pokemon is everyone's childhood dream. But the power levels of this world are bullshit. One wrong turn and I can get skewered or burnt alive or poisoned."
Joseph's ramblings kept continuing. And as if to reinforce his paranoia, a drilbur tunneled up and pierced the dedenne. A shrill, blood-curdling sound came out of the dedenne and it died. The drilbur then glanced at Joseph. It grinned menacingly as if to send a message. It then carried the body of the dedenne underground and disappeared.
While this was all going on, Zossie examined Joseph. She was streaming his actions through her visor to the Ultra Recon Squad HQ.
"This Ultra Beast does not look like anything known as you predicted. However, it's just a man, right? He is giving off the same energy as Ultra Beasts but…he is powerless. Look how he froze up in the face of a measly drilbur. What do you suggest should be our course of action regarding this individual?"
After a pause, Dulse responded, "Keep an eye on him but make sure to not let this man die. Procure a method to enable the rangers to find him without any trace being left behind. And then steadily follow him and his actions. He can be useful."
"Roger!"
Zossie saluted and kneeled towards her boots. There she grabbed a pokeball and discreetly tossed it. Out of it came a paras.
"Parpar, can you use flash to attract attention here?"
Parpar the paras nodded and caused the world to flash white.
XxXxXxX
"Look Lunick!"
A girl with spiky blue hair pointed towards a blinding light coming from yonder. She was flying on a flygon and the man flying next to her, Lunick saw it as well.
"We need to go check it out, Solana."
These two were rangers of Fiore with an indomitable resolve for the freedom of pokemon. Their views mimicked their region as in Fiore it was illegal to catch pokemon. The people here coexisted with pokemon to the level that having pokeballs was unnecessary.
The two of them continued to fly toward the source of the light until they saw a black-haired man with fair skin curled up near a tree rocking back and forth.
"What was that? What the hell was that? I cannot die yet! I was unfairly transported here! Nononono, my resolve is too great. I refuse to die here!"
The man then stood up with newfound resolve only to see two people looking at him awkwardly. The man was Joseph, and he recognized the two as being the playable characters of Pokemon Ranger. Joseph however chose to keep this information to himself and instead awkwardly offered a handshake.
"Uh hi, I am Joseph Baller, nice to meet you."
Lunick and Solana looked at each other with a confused look. The minun and plusle on their respective shoulders stared at Joseph with a worried look.
"Ahem," Lunick accepted Joseph's handshake, "Hi, I am Lunick, this is Solana."
Lunick pointed to Solana before continuing, "From your yammering earlier, we can assume you are not from here are you?"
Lunick looked suspiciously at Joseph. Ever since the war began 5 years previously, many spies have been sent to get close to the rangers and destroy them from the inside out. Lunick wanted to make sure this Joseph fellow was not from the Alliance.
Joseph pondered for a second, putting together his thoughts. He was able to read the suspicion in Lunick's voice. Paired with Solana's soul-piercing glare, he knew something bigger was going on.
"It is just as you assume, however the scale is likely larger than what you think. I was transported through some wormhole-looking thing until I ended up in this world."
"An Ultra Beast?!"
Solana stumbled backward and all the color left her face.
"Who are you!?" Solana suddenly lashed out, "Why are you here?"
Joseph gave a perplexed gaze, "I am Joseph Baller as I already said, and for why I am here…I do not know."
"Do not fuck with me! Who sent you here? Ahh, I see you are from the Alliance, aren't you? I heard rumors on how they mastered Ultra Wormhole travel thanks to their champion Ash!"
Solana's companions were trying their hardest to calm her down. The plusle on her shoulder tried to calm her down and Lunick was attempting to reason with her.
"Solana, look. Look at this man. Do you think this guy, the one who was losing his mind less than 5 minutes ago, would be as heartless as them? We are all sad about the loss of Spenser, but does he seem like he was responsible?"
Joseph heard the name Spenser and thought of the supporting character and mentor figure from Pokemon Ranger. Hearing about his death and a so-called Alliance brought to light some more of the lore of this world.
Solana then seemed to have calmed down and looked at Joseph with an apologetic look, "I am sorry, it is just that Spenser meant a lot to me and I couldn't control my emotions."
Joseph immediately realized the relationship those two had. The loss of a loved one is something that could cause scars for life. So Joseph internally forgave her.
Solana then looked at Lunick and he nodded. She then turned back to Joseph.
"Hey, I think you should come to our HQ. If your story checks out, you do not have anywhere to go, and I think Hikari will find use for you."
Joseph grinned. To him, his adventure in this new world was finally beginning for real.
Hey there guys. For the 3 of you who see this, this is a rewrite because the original vision was lost to me and I am working to revive it. Expect chapter 2 sometime soon! Please share, fav, follow, etc bye.