Gathering a Team (Part 1)

Hey there, folks!

Missed me? I bet you are since it's time to show you guys what I've been up to once I woke up the next day after Professor Ohkido found me.

After waking the next morning, I found myself staring into the eyes of a sleeping, purple gelatinous creature. I hold in a scream as the thought that first comes to my mind is a disgusting creature similar to The Blob and The Thing, only to look a bit closer and recognize it as a Ditto.

That means… I really have been transported to another world after a travel accident in my previous one.

Then, Ditto slowly opened its eyes from its slumber and stared back into mine.

"DITTO!" It yelped in fright before falling off the bed.

But due to its squishy body, it simply caused no discomfort for the Transform Pokémon.

A couple of minutes later, the Pokémon Professor greeted me warmly the next day with a tray of tea and crackers. I thank the kind old man, recognizing who he was from my encyclopedia-level knowledge of the Pokémon franchise.

We started off by politely introducing our names to each other, starting with the Professor.

To my surprise, instead of his English name the Professor is called "Yukinari Ohkido" rather than "Samuel Oak".

Considering that the early games and anime had more Japanese influences before they became less so later on, it would make sense that natives of Kanto would all have Japanese names.

Hold on, then that would mean that Ash and Gary's names would be Satoshi and Shigeru respectively in this world. Hmm… perhaps that would mean that the Post-Sinnoh cast would have their English names instead of their Japanese ones.

Though, hopefully, the names of the Pokémon would still go by their English names given the amount of headaches regarding the various meanings of their Japanese ones.

When it came to giving my name… I already started to come up with something that would sound cool.

"My name is Dio. Dio Brando." I told my "name" to Professor Ohkido.

I get it for those who know who that is in the anime world. "Lame and unoriginal and unnecessary edgy." But hey, that name is still very, very, very cool, so sue me!

"Dio… Brando…" The Professor pondered. "While I mean no offense, it's a rather odd name around Kanto young man."

"Huh… well in that case, I guess I'm very far from home then," I replied.

Not exactly a lie, but I am far away from home after a certain accident while traveling somewhere. Hell, if it weren't for a certain Legendary Pokémon, I really would've died on that day.

But anyway, back to our conversation.

"Ha ha… I suppose you are a young man. But before we continue our conversation, I have to ask." At this point, the Pokémon Professor's expression becomes one of suspicious curiosity.

"When you briefly regained consciousness yesterday, I noticed you called me "Professor Oak" and showed a sign of recognition. I'm not sure why, but have we met before?" Professor Ohkido asked.

Seeing his suspicions, it's quite understandable for anyone to feel paranoid about an injured stranger recognizing who you are. However, the Pokémon Professor is a very accommodating man by simply asking rather than demanding. That is something I will respect, given my own circumstances.

"Well, who doesn't know the name of Kanto's renowned Pokémon Professor? I mean, in the other regions, you were called by a different name for linguistic reasons. "Oak" sounds similar to your family name, so the other regions went with that," I explained.

Professor Ohkido was rather surprised to hear that but nonetheless accepted my answer.

I started off by politely asking the Professor about my current location and the date, and he stated that I was currently in Pallet Town and that he found me in the yard during a particularly bad lightning storm. When I asked how I got here, the Pokémon Professor explained to me that I just appeared out of nowhere the moment a very powerful lighting struck the ground.

I was surprised by this revelation but kept my cool as this wasn't the first unexplainable phenomenon that had happened to me.

And believe me, the old saying that "truth is stranger than fiction" applied back in my own world.

The Pokémon Professor continued further by explaining my severe burns when he first found me outside, but he was astonished by how fast I healed. At first, the Pokémon Professor thought I would still be out for a few more days, only that I now made a seemingly full recovery this morning.

Interesting… does that mean I have a "Healing Factor" like in the superhero comics?

Awesome! Which means I have something looking forward to in a personal battle against a Pokémon for capture.

Professor Ohkido continues by stating that the date is October 1, 1996. The first thing was another surprise an early period right before the 2000s, but then another thought came to mind. The first episode of Pokémon in Japan came out in April 1997. If I crutch that into the current timeline of the Pokémon world, I'm in, then that means Ash's journey doesn't start until six months.

Simply, I've got a lot of time to prepare beforehand, and immediately make plans in the back of my head.

"If I may ask you, my dear boy, do you remember anything before you seemingly came here?" Professor Ohkido asked.

If you, the readers, have read CaioCiao's Pokémon: Tears of a New Start, then you could already guess how the rest of my conversation with the Pokémon Professor would go. But a bit differently than how the protagonist, Josh, does it.

I explained to Professor Ohkido my accident and a certain Diving Pokémon coming to my rescue before I could die. Professor Ohkido was astonished by my chance meeting with the Legendary Pokémon but seemingly accepted it with a deep thought that he kept to himself. He was also sympathetic to my plight and held off on asking more personal questions until I was ready, which gave me enough time to come up with a cover story.

Afterward, I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit before heading out of the guest house. I took a look at myself in the mirror and saw that I had a radically different look. In a way, I faintly look like Dio Brando, with short, blond curly hair and golden eyes. My skin complexion is now fair and my build is slender but with visible muscles.

I will have to test to see if I still have my peak condition physical strength later.

I took my personal backpack next to the guest bed, and then accompanied the Pokémon Professor outside and took a breath of fresh air. You know what they say, the morning air was crisp in the Fall season, along with the dew shining in the grass thanks to the sun.

As we got into the Professor's laboratory, it was just like how I pictured it in the anime. Large tubes were stationed at one end of the room along with large machinery at all other parts. Rows of books were stacked on a couple of bookshelves, showing the research material that a renowned Pokémon Professor would possess. Compared to how sophisticated technology had become in the 2010s and 2020s, Professor Ohkido's lab kinda feels archaic but still highly advanced as imagined in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Then, the three Poké Balls sitting stationary in the pod located in the center of the room caught my attention. It contains the Kanto Starter Mon for beginning trainers! Professor Oak noticed my interest and explained to me what they were and the due date of the trainers coming in to pick them up in six months' time.

As Professor Ohkido says, it now confirms that my current place in the Pokémon timeline is six months before EP001, and the plans I have cooking up are definitely not going to change since I started with them earlier.

The only thing I had on me after being transported was my personal backpack filled with my personal items. The backpack contains my laptop, phone, tablet, sketchbooks and drawing materials, and a small, secured briefcase. I checked my tech and felt glad that it still works along with my saved data on them. Professor Ohkido was curious and asked about them.

I explained to Professor Oak the highly, sophisticated technology of my three items coming from the other regions, and he showed quite the reaction to them having more processing power and RAM storage. I seize my moment by proposing a trade with the Pokémon Professor. He can study the technology and replicate it, along with a sample of my blood for research given my healing factor. To sweeten the deal, I reveal to the Pokémon Professor that I have trade skills as a handyman, and can fix up a couple of utilities on his property.

In exchange, the professor will allow me ownership of Ditto, help me gather some Pokémon for my upcoming journey, and some financial backing as a starter Pokémon trainer.

Professor Ohkido agreed and we both made it in the form of a written contract.

For the Pokémon that I wanted to assemble for my Pokémon journey aside from already having Ditto, I told the Pokémon Professor of what I listed are a Charmander, a Bulbasaur, a Squirtle, and a Pikachu.

"My word, and the amount of Pokémon you want is many before you start off your journey?" Professor Ohkido said in surprise.

While the Pokémon Professor was surprised by how much Pokémon I was asking for a starting trainer, I convinced him that I already knew the highly concentrated spots where those Pokémon reside in Kanto. I learned of the Kanto region and its locations through study during my travels to the other regions.

All I asked is to borrow one of the Pidgeots he has on the ranch and I'll fly myself to those places.

In the end, the Pokémon Professor agreed to loan me a Pidgeot for the travel. Then, I spend the next 10 days preparing for a short trip to gather my Starter Team.

Now, you all may be thinking, "Why is he going out of his way to capture Pokémon before the official start of his journey? Why not wait until he travels along with Ash and Co.?" Well, let me ask you all this! Right in front of me is a rare opportunity to aid in one of my goals in the new world: Becoming a Pokémon Champion!

And I'm not about to let something like this go to waste. Besides, I also want to invoke Red's

Do you know the old saying from this one video game villain? Spoiler Alert!

"With great power comes great responsibility… and great opportunity. And the only way to live up to all that responsibility is to use every opportunity to get all the power."

Cliché of me to "Quote Mine", but what's presented before is a great opportunity like no other!

Hell, even Professor Ohkido's grandson would be filled with envy if he saw this. But screw his spoiled ass, he's already got plenty of things going for him whereas I had to claw my own path to moderate success back in my world!

Look out Pokémon world, cause Dio Brando is coming in and screwing it in the ass!

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Ok, that sounded really bad, but hey, I'm pretty much doing the equivalent of hacking a Pokémon game to gain a favorable advantage.

Plus, you may also be wondering why I'm capable of breaking the fourth wall and talking to you, the readers, in my first-person narrative.

Well, how do you all explain Deadpool's ability to fourth wall break then? Ever think of why?!

Anyway~ See you in the next chapter!