A cool wind brushed through the lush field and the surrounding trees, their dark green leaves swaying in the wind. The ambient sounds of various creatures' humming or hooting rang through the air, as two humans opened their eyes, laying in the middle of a clearing.
They both woke up, alarmed at not knowing where they were. So much so, that it took a few seconds for them to realize the other was there.
Somewhere between sitting and laying on the grass, the two observed each other. One was a boy who seemed to be around seventeen years old, with shaggy brown hair and a moderate build. Like he was physically active, but just hadn't filled out yet. The other was a girl who also seemed to be around seventeen, with short black hair and a thin build. They were both wearing their choice of colored t-shirt and jeans, the boy wearing a green shirt, and the girl wearing an orange shirt.
"Um, hello?" They both greeted each other at the same time.
They both internally laughed at themselves then tried again.
"Hi, I'm Sarah. Who are you?"
"My name is John. Do you have any idea where we are?"
"I don't. I was just at home, then I woke up here." Sarah answered, standing up.
"Me too…" John adjusted himself so he was sitting cross-legged, and brought his hand to his chin.
'So we both woke up in the middle of nowhere. How? And why us? Is there some common thread between us, and if so- wait wait-'
"Where are you going?" John asked Sarah, who was currently walking away.
"Well we're not going to find out where we are by staying put. Maybe I can find a sign or something."
"No no, if we're in the wilderness then staying put is our best bet for safety. How are we supposed to be found if we move around all over the place?"
"Is anybody looking for us?" Sarah asks.
'Well of course… but-' "-We have no idea how we got here. We could be a thousand miles from where we were before, and nobody would know." John finished his thought out loud.
"Exactly! That wasn't my exact thought process, but either way, having a look around is our only chance to find something."
Hesitantly, John stood up and walked over to Sarah. Right before they exited the clearing, the sound of rushing wind and flapping wings startled them. Both of their heads whipped around to the sound, where an oval shaped owl with only one leg had landed on a tree near them.
"Oh! It's a Hoothoot!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time. Then both of them look at each other again.
"Have you played Pokémon?" John asked.
"I've watched Pokémon, but never played any of the games." Sarah answers.
"Oh. I've never seen any of the shows."
There was a pause between the two of them, as they wondered about each other's difference of experience.
"So… Do you want to get going?" Sarah asks.
"Oh, yeah."
Both of them exit the clearing.
They wandered around the lush green forest, and chatted with each other about their various experiences with Pokémon. Sarah had some difficulty understanding the nature of the super complex rock-paper-scissors of competitive pokemon battles, and John was very interested in things that were done in the anime that are normally impossible in the games. And of course they "oohed" and "aahed" at the various pokémon they saw. There were some Pidgey, Sentret, Rattata, and they even saw a Nidoran. Along the way, Sarah started talking about the first ever pokémon movie.
"Then, Mewtwo created stronger clones of all the pokémon that were there!" Sarah continues.
"Mewtwo is that strong in the anime?"
"Mewtwo isn't strong in the games?"
"There's just a lot of counters for it. A max speed choice-banded Weavile can oneshot Mewtwo most of the time."
"I don't know what that means."
Their conversation paused, as they both noticed a dirt road ahead of them.
"A road!" Sarah ran ahead of John. "Come on!"
Reluctantly, John started running to catch up to her.
"See, a sign!" Sarah pointed out. Long the dirt path, there was a sign that said 'Route 22'
"Good news, I know exactly where we are now. Judging from the pokémon we saw, we should be in-between Kanto and Johto, meaning Victory Road should be that way" John points uphill. "And Viridian City should be that way" John points downhill. The hill wasn't very pronounced, but just steep enough to be noticable.
"Did I miss a sign that told us which way those things were?" Sarah asked.
"No. It feels like the afternoon, and I assumed that the in-game maps had north be up."
"Oh yeah, you can use the sun as a compass." Sarah remembers. "Sooo… which way should we go?"
"Well-" Before John can answer the question, he's interrupted by a heavy stomp, as what looks to be a rhinoceros wearing heavy stone plating steps onto the path. It's glaring at them, snarling and snorting, but even stranger, it's surrounded by a pink aura.
"A Rhyhorn, Run!" Sarah shouts. Off like a speeding bullet, she runs towards Victory Road.
"On it!" John shouts back, running downhill.
After about ten seconds, John realizes that Sarah isn't with him.
"Where are you going? Come with m-" John sees the Rhyhorn is currently focused on him, and has started barreling downhill towards him.
"Nevermind! Don't worry about me!"
The wind rushed past John's ears as he sprinted, the downhill incline helping increase his speed, while decreasing the stamina needed to keep running. Unfortunately for him, the same was true for the Rhyhorn. He could hear its thunderous footfalls as it stayed right on his tail. Rhyhorn naturally weren't very fast, but even so, he could hear it gaining on him.
'Come on, it shouldn't be much further…' John thought to himself as his breathing started getting ragged. His hopes rose once more when he caught a flash of red in his peripheral vision, and quickly changed course, turning right. The Rhyhorns bulky body wasn't made for sharp turns, and it needed to skid to a stop first, giving John some more time.
John ran to the pokéloot he saw on the ground. It looked like an oversized pokéball. After spending one second being confused on how to use it, he pressed the button in the middle, opening it up, revealing five undersized pokéballs on the inside.
"What the…?" John said out loud, as he picked up one of the undersized pokéballs, which grew into a regular pokéball once it was in his hand.
"Well, I guess this game has its quirks…" John calmly said, hearing the Rhyhorn charging at him again. "But all of it still exists within the same rules!" He shouted, a smile on his face as he whipped the pokéball at the oncoming Rhyhorn.
The moment the pokéball made contact, the pink aura around it was dispelled, in a puff of pink particles. The pokéball bounced off the Rhyhorn, opening midair and absorbing it with a beam of light. Rhyhorns form brightened, then distorted as it was absorbed, and finally the pokéball closed, falling to the ground.
Tentatively, John approached the fallen pokéball. It wiggled, wiggled again, and wiggled one last time, and then a blue light flashed around the center button, signifying a successful capture.
"Yes!" John jumped in the air, and shouted out loud to nobody.
'And to top it off, I've still got four more pokéballs! Though I doubt there's anything else around here worth catching…' At one point John may have wanted a Nidoran or Pidgey on his team, but after getting into competitive battling he didn't really see the point. Even if Nidoking could be pretty good, it'd be barely useful until then.
'Actually, was a Rhyhorn even supposed to be on this route?' John couldn't remember. He didn't think so, but there was a Rhyhorn here, so it could be possible he just misremembered.
Discarding that train of thought, John picked up the pokéball and debated on where to go next.
'Maybe I should look for Sarah? I know she went to victory road… she should be okay, there's always someone there who can teleport you to either Newbark or Pallet Town. Best case scenario, maybe they could even teleport her back to our world.' John thought about going back to his world, then quickly shook his head. No, the games were an escape, but now they didn't have to be, it could be a new reality. Besides… 'There's no way I'd miss the opportunity to go through Kanto again' John the genwunner smiled to himself.
'I'm sure Sarah will be fine, she knows a lot about pokémon too. As for me, I'm going to enjoy this experience to its fullest!'
John returned to the dirt path, walking down the road to Viridian City, ignoring the guilt starting to form in his heart at leaving his only connection in this world behind.
Gasping and out of breath from all the uphill sprinting, Sarah arrives at a large building, built at the top of the hill. Tall fences surround the path north of the building, leaving the building as the only entrance point. The north path didn't matter at all to her though, as she entered the building.
The sliding glass doors opened for her, and she stumbled into the building. She took a quick look around. There was a supermarket area, and a pokémon center area, and right in front of her was a counter with someone dressed like a police officer standing behind it.
"Hello there? Here to register for the league?" He asked in a polite tone, curious as to why she was so out of breath.
"No! Down the path, there was some weird Rhyhorn, it attacked me and my friend!"
"Alright miss, please calm down, and slowly tell me everything you saw." Sarah couldn't tell if he wasn't taking her seriously, or just being very professional at the expense of practicality.
Sarah explained the scene to him, of the two of them just waking up out there, then as they found route 22, they got attacked and separated. For the time being she chose to leave out the fact they were from another world. Best case scenario, that would make her story all the more unbelievable.
"So let me get this straight. Neither of you were trainers, and you made it this far from Viridian City?"
"Uh… well I guess so?" Sarah had no idea how to explain that.
"Alright well, if you're not here to register for the Indigo Plateau, we have somebody here who can teleport you to Newbark Town."
"What about Viridian City?"
"He's new." The officer sheepishly explained. "He's the guy over there sitting on the chair with the Abra."
Sarah looked where he was pointing. He was sitting right outside a cafe wearing cartoon swirly glasses. They looked opaque, so Sarah couldn't tell if he was asleep or not.
"Just go on over to him. Don't worry, we'll keep an eye out for your friend."
"Thank you." Sarah says, dejectedly.
The officer opened the gate for her, but it didn't seem like he was willing to do anything else. Sarah ran here because she figured there would be strong trainers here who could help, but the officer at the counter just made a report, then didn't do anything else.
About halfway to the guy with the Abra, a trainer walked over to her. He was somewhat tall, and dressed in sharp dark clothes with orange highlights. The material looked both comfortable, and durable. Sarah figured this must be the kind of stuff super serious trainers might wear while exploring.
"Hello, I'm Liam. Before you go, could you tell me where you saw the Rhyhorn?"
Sarah looked up at him. He sounded trustworthy, and his expression indicated he was listening, and serious about helping.
"We were attacked around the Route 22 sign. I'm pretty sure the Rhyhorn left tracks of some kind."
"Yeah, something that heavy trying to move fast would leave tracks. Did you see any more signs on the way here?"
"No, that was it."
"Alright, so the closest one then." Liam mused to himself.
"Thank you." Sarah says.
"No worries. I've seen a pokémon with a pink aura before, but I wasn't very experienced back then. I'll help your friend, don't worry!" Liam rushed out of the building, flipping himself over the officer's gate. The officer leapt out of his chair, then just sat back down once he realized Liam was already out of the building.
Unsure of what to do for the time being, Sarah just sat outside of the cafe near the guy with the Abra. Now being this close, Sarah could tell he was definitely asleep, though she couldn't tell if the Abra was asleep or not, because Abra normally have their eyes closed.
Just sitting here waiting was making Sarah antsy. Her foot started tapping as she kept looking around. The building was pretty big, but not very crowded. The supermarket mostly had canned food, pokéballs, and potions. The pokémon center had one healing machine, and one Nurse Joy. Sarah was curious if Nurse Joy was a clone, or if they were actually siblings, but she thought it would be rude to ask. She checked her pockets, and found nothing from her world. Not even her phone or wallet, not that it seemed likely they would accept Earth money.
'Does the Pokémon world have a cellular network like Earth? Actually what's the name of the pokémon world? Does the planet have a name? Has exploration gotten to the point where everybody knows they're on a sphere in space? I think that's pretty likely, but what are the odds their cellular network would be compatible with my phone- not that I have my phone-'
"I'm back!" Sarah heard Liam's voice, as he reentered the building. Sarah shook her head and let the extra thoughts fall out. Those questions would be answered in the future, but she needed to focus on the now.
"What did you find?" Sarah asked.
Liam waited for the officer to open the gate this time, and walked over to Sarah.
"I found Rhyhorn tracks, but at a certain point they just stopped."
Sarah's heart sank. Liam noticed her worry, and elaborated.
"I mean its tracks stopped near a pokéloot. I think it's likely your friend managed to catch the Rhyhorn."
"Don't worry about me"
Sarah's eyes widened, and her shoulders relaxed. 'So he's going to be okay.'
"Wait, what's a pokéloot?" Sarah asked.
"It's like little bundles of supplies hidden in the wilderness by the Pokémon League. It's both to incentivise trainers to explore more, as well as to help trainers who are in the wild and running low on items."
"Oh, that's neat."
"So I'm sorry I couldn't find him, but I'm confident he's okay."
"It's alright. Thank you for looking."
"Alright, well, have a good day." Liam awkwardly walked off, unsure if he ended that interaction in the correct way or not.
Sarah looked down at the floor in front of her. It doesn't seem right to ask Liam if he could escort her all the way to Viridian city, and just making a run for it for an unknown distance completely unarmed didn't sound like a good idea either. Plus, Ash's crew normally spent weeks on the road before getting to a town, so even if she doesn't get attacked, dying of hunger or thirst was a likely possibility.
As much as she would rather travel with John, it seemed she didn't have any choice but to go to Newbark Town. With a heavy heart, she walked over to the guy with the Abra, and woke him up.
"Um, excuse me?"
The man seemed to stir from his sleep.
"Hm, yes, where do you want to go?"
"Well… Viridian City."
"Your options are; Newbark Town." He responded in a dry, almost mocking tone.
"Newbark Town then." Sarah hesitantly agreed.
"Hey Mark, make sure you don't send her to the top of Mount Silver again!" The officer playfully called over.
"Wait what?!" Sarah exclaimed, before the Abra stuck its arms out, and a purple light enveloped Sarah.
When Sarah opened her eyes, she was standing on another dirt path, although the trees around her bore a darker shade of green than the ones in Kanto.
'Alright, I should be in Johto now, but where…' Sarah's thoughts trailed off as she saw a small collection of houses in the distance, with smoke coming out of their chimneys. They looked quite far away, to the point she couldn't make out their finer features. Also, there was an entire lake in-between her and the houses.
'Those houses are probably Newbark Town, but…' Sarah takes another look at the distance, and the lake. The lake stretched around too, to the point where it would be easier to swim across than to walk around it. Sarah just sighs to herself.
'Alright, I guess I'm doing this then.'
"Guh- hah!" Sarah gasps for air as she finally trudges out of the lake, resting her tired arms. Water pours down her body, and she considers laying down for a minute before continuing. Her legs aren't as tired as her arms, but regardless she chooses to take a break, wringing out her clothes. After a few minutes of resting, and drying herself off as best as she can, she starts shivering. Even if she's more dry now, the chill from the lake was finally setting in.
'I need to find somewhere to warm up.' Sarah thinks, her teeth chattering.
Even if she could warm up by staying in the sun, it didn't look like it was going to stay up much longer. Regardless of her current body temperature, she would need somewhere to stay for the night.
Sarah got back up, and walked to Newbark Town. Despite it being called a town, it looks like its population couldn't have been more than thirty.
'A collection of cottages, a picturesque lake… this seems like the kind of place people might retire to.' Sarah noted how the setting reflected off the surface of the lake. It really looks like a scene from some stock photo.
'But now that I'm here… now what? Would Professor Elm give me a starter pokémon? Would it be rude to ask for that?' Finding the lab building wasn't hard, but as Sarah approached the door, these thoughts plagued her mind. They didn't stick around for long though.
'Nothing ventured, nothing gained' Sarah knocked on the door.
After a few seconds of waiting, a nerdy looking man opened the door. He was thinly built, and had light brown hair that was shaved short, except for what looked like a small explosion at the front of his head. He wore glasses too, which in all honesty contributed about 70% of the nerdiness to his face. To top it off, he wore the ever fashionable lab coat over a light blue button up shirt.
"Hello, who might-" The man started talking, before he noticed Sarah was still soaking wet from her swim in the lake. "Oh come in, come in."
Sarah gratefully obliged, taking the opportunity to get out of the now chilling evening air. The inside of the building looked very cozy, despite the marble floors. With the fuzzy carpets, the soft looking couches, and the high-stacked bookshelves, it looked more like a lounging area than a laboratory. The wall opposite to the door was filled with a bunch of lab equipment, as well as a giant monitor, but that space made up a minority of the room.
The man got some towels, and turned on a heater for Sarah before continuing his questioning.
"First off, I am Professor Elm, though you may have already known that. Now that you're warming up a bit, who might you be?"
"My name is Sarah. I… me and my friend were on Route 22 when we got attacked by a wild pokémon. We got separated, and the person at Victory Road teleported me here."
"That's…- Hold on, are you a trainer?"
"No."
"Then how did you get so close to Victory Road?"
"We- I don't know."
It looked like Elm was having trouble believing her story, which made sense. There was a huge gap in it. Specifically, right at the start. Elm was looking at her like she was someone suspicious, and she didn't know why. Elm didn't make a lot of appearances in the anime, but maybe he was concerned that she was like Jessie, and was trying to sneak in to steal a pokémon? Either way, Sarah knew the knowledge she was working with here wasn't enough to have a full understanding of him.
Elm's tone changed a bit, becoming a little darker.
"Look, I don't give a pokédex and pokémon to every kid that walks in here. If taking a dive in the lake is some way to gain sympathy…"
"That's not it at all!" Sarah exclaims. "I swam through the lake because the guy that teleported me was bad at his job, and swimming across looked easier than walking."
Elm let out a sigh.
"Sorry if I judged you too hastily. It's just after I gave pokédexes to Gold and Crystal, I've had people from all over try to get me to give them one."
"Oh…" Sarah sighed in understanding. "It's okay. If you've been dealing with that a lot, then it makes sense that you'd think that about me. … I couldn't have been the only person who showed up to your door wet and cold."
Elm silently nodded. "Oak had it way worse. Since both of the kids he gave pokédexes ended up becoming champions, people got the wrong idea that just having a pokédex means you're destined for greatness."
Sarah gave a small smile. "I'm sorry about all that. Anyways, I have no need for a pokédex. I know quite a lot already."
"Oh really?" Elm was genuinely curious now. He went over to his Lab wall, and after typing into a computer, a pokéball teleported into a machine on the desk.
"If you know quite a lot, tell me everything you know about this pokémon!" Professor Elm tossed the pokéball into the middle of the room, and a large star-shaped pokémon appeared in a flash of light. Two of its five limbs touched the ground, and the red gem in the center glowed with a mystical light.
"That's a Staryu, and it's a water-psychic type. That gem in the middle is the source of its psychic power."
"Not bad, but-"
"You can tell how healthy a Staryu is by how brightly the core shimmers. Based on what I'm seeing now, it looks healthy. Plus, even if its limbs are cut off, as long as the core is intact it can regenerate. Despite not being able to swim like other water types, it can move through water just fine, and also, it's one of the few pokémon that doesn't say its own name."
Elm was left stunned. "Well… that was almost as detailed as its actual pokédex entry. Did you somehow sneak a peek at it?"
"I learned all of this from my own observation, Professor!" Sarah said, half happy, half smug.
"Alright, how about this one then?" Elm returns the Staryu to its ball, and throws out what looks like a mass of vines, with all of its facial features except for its eyes obscured.
"Tangela, grass type. Even if you cut its vines off, they grow back too quickly for its face to be seen. It can use all of its vines like limbs, making it great at fighting hordes of pokémon, or doing house chores. Also, apparently, its vines taste good?"
"You're sounding more like a pokédex now!" Elm laughed. He returned Tangela to its ball, and sat on the couch opposite to Sarah.
"Alright, I believe you now. You definitely don't need a pokédex, but I'm surprised you're not a trainer, considering how knowledgeable you are."
"I really want to be." Sarah says, both honesty and desire bleeding into her words.
Elm looks her in the eyes, as if evaluating her, before asking her one more question.
"Why did you learn so much about pokémon?"
"Because I truly love Pokémon, from the bottom of my heart. I love how cute pokémon are, I love how strong they are, I love the idea of going on a journey with pokémon as well. Even if there's nobody else with you, you're not alone."
Elm nods earnestly at her answer. "Alright last question, I promise. What are your goals if you become a trainer?"
Sarah takes some time to think about this one. In the past, she wanted to be a pokémon trainer because it looked so fun being around these creatures. In the present, she wanted a pokémon so she could defend herself, but in the future…
"I really don't know. Getting stronger, travelling the world, enjoying life… oh, and I definitely want to visit Alola one day!"
Elm chuckled at her last desire. "Is that all?"
"Well, the important part is that me and my pokémon would be doing all of those things together."
Elm looks down at the ground, an unsuppressable smile on his face.
"I think that's the best possible answer you could have given me. If you want to be a trainer so bad, then I'll help you out!" Elm gets up from the couch, and strides over to his console.
Sarah hears him muttering to himself about not having many spare pokémon, before the giant monitor lights up, starting Elm. On the screen is a girl who looks about the same age as Sarah, with teal hair styled in a way that would be impossible without at least half a bottle of hair gel.
"Gah!" Elm leaps back in his surprise.
"Hello Professor!" The girl on the screen says. "Oh, who's that?"
"Marina?" Sarah says.
"Oh Crystal, she's just a passerby." Elm explains.
"Is she trying to get a pokédex off you?" Crystal says flatly.
"No. She's passed all the tests you suggested. I'm seeing if we have a spare pokémon we can give her to start with."
"Oh! In that case, we've got perfect timing then. I was just calling you to tell you I've sent over the Eevee you wanted. I found two, so I just caught them both. Better two than one, right? It should have been sent to your PC."
"I guess so… Wait, that's perfect!" Elm exclaims.
"Yeah, that's what I was hinting at."
"Sorry what?" Sarah asks.
"Sarah, what do you think about Eevee?" Elm asks.
"I think it's the cutest pokémon ever, and I'd love to have one to pet all the time."
"It's settled then!" Elm exclaims, typing into his computer. Another pokéball appears on his desk, and he hands it to Sarah.
Sarah stares at the pokéball in her hands, both in admiration, and anticipation. Elm and Crystal can practically see the stars in her eyes as she slowly brought her finger up to the button on the pokéball. In a burst of light, a small brown-furred creature was sitting on her lap, its weight noticeable, but not a problem. It looked somehow like a cross between a cat, a dog, and a fox, with the cuteness of all three combined. There was no possible way for Sarah to stop smiling, as she began petting it and saw it too smiling back.
'I'm really glad this didn't go like Ash and Pikachu's first meeting.'
"It looks like you two are taking to each other just fine." Elm remarks. This snaps Sarah out of her cuteness trance, as she looks back up to Elm and Crystal, who were both watching.
"Oh, um, sorry." Sarah says.
"Don't apologize. Seeing new trainers get their first pokémon is the most gratifying part of being a Professor."
"Really?" Crystal asks.
"Yeah. Grants don't pay as much as they should."
"Anyway-" Crystal changes the topic. "-Do you have a nickname in mind for it?"
"Nickname?" Sarah asks. She knows what it is, but was hoping for a little guidance for it.
"Sometimes it helps to have a naming scheme, but for my pokémon, I shorten their name, then add 'ee' to the end." Crystal sends out a Meganium. "For example, this is Megaree!"
"How would you name a Hitmonlee?" Sarah asks.
"Funny you should mention that. I have a Hitmonlee on my team, and I've nicknamed him Monlee."
"Hm."
"Okay, so my naming scheme doesn't sound perfect every time, but what's most important is that both you and your pokémon like the name."
Sarah looks down at her Eevee, gazing into its eyes as it looks up to her, with similar adoration that she looked at it with. Those eyes that weren't quite brown, and weren't quite orange either, shimmering like a gem even in the lab's flat lighting.
"Amber. How does that name sound?" Sarah asked Eevee.
"Voyeevoyy!" The Eevee responded cheerfully, nuzzling against her hand.
"Welcome to the team Amber!" Sarah picked Amber up, and hugged her close.
Elm and Crystal smiled at this scene, filled with nostalgia of the first time they met their partner pokémon. After a minute, Sarah let Amber go, with Amber choosing to lay back down on her lap.
"So, you weren't from around here, right?" Crystal asked.
Sarah perked up, remembering Elm and Crystal were there. "Oh, yes, or I mean, no?"
"Not from around here, got it." Crystal jokingly said, smiling back. "If you need a place to stay for the night, I could text my mom. I'm sure she'd at least let you use the couch.
"That would be great, thank you."
"Well, that's it from me, Professor. Bye!" Crystal waved into the camera.
"Bye Crystal, talk to you next time I need something captured!"
"Or the next time I need more pokéball money!" Crystal laughed back, before signing off the call.
"Alright, I can work with this." John muses. Unfortunately when he sent out Rhyhorn, there was no interface. Either way, John knew what level up moves a Rhyhorn should have at this point. Tackle, Tail Whip, Smack Down, and Bulldoze. Rhyhorn should be below level 15, but considering how early John had encountered it, and the fact that the very first pokéball caught it, it couldn't have been high level in the first place. John had tried telling Rhyhorn to do the pink aura thing it had before, but got no results. Another unfortunate thing, John had no way to tell what Rhyhorn's ability was. The only ways to test are to either use an electric type move in a double battle, have Rhyhorn get hit by a super effective attack, or use a recoil move, which Rhyhorn wouldn't be getting for a while.
There had been a few wild pokémon on the way to Viridian City, but nothing that Rhyhorn couldn't handle. The bigger problem however was that John had been walking for hours, and his feet hurt.
"I didn't know I was playing pokémon: The Walking Simulator." John grumbles. The sun was setting and he still couldn't see Viridian City.
Of course it was also a good idea to come up with a plan for what to do in Kanto. Currently, that plan was to see how far he could travel without any badges while building up his team. Once he got to a high enough level, clear the gym leaders with however much cheese is required. Of course, before John could do that, he would need to get to Viridian City…
"Hey, you there!" A young boy called out to John. He was wearing blue shorts, an orange shirt, and a blue cap. From his appearances, he couldn't have been more than ten years old.
'A youngster trainer type. Usually not very strong. The youngsters on Route 22 are pretty weak since they're meant to be fought early on.'
"I assume you want to battle?" John asked back, already figuring this was the case. Trainers that didn't want to battle don't call out to you on sight.
"Of course! I'm gonna double my allowance! I bet 500 Pokken on this battle! Sounds good?"
"Yeah sure, let's do this." John replies, not really thinking about what the youngster is saying. The pre battle chit chat never really means anything.
"Go Spearow!"
"Go, Rhyhorn."
Rhyhorn exited the pokéball, landing on the ground with a heavy crash. Meanwhile the youngster's Spearow flapped its wings, landing with barely a sound.
"Spearow, quick attack!" The Spearow covered itself in glowing white light, and its speed suddenly shot up. It moved far faster than Rhyhorn could react to, and landed a harsh peck on Rhyhorn's neck, using the last of its amplified speed to move away.
Completely devoid of emotion, John simply commanded.
"Smack down."
Rhyhorn conjured a small rock in front of it, and smacked it with its horn to launch it at Spearow, which was still recovering from using its attack. The rock hit Spearow straight on, knocking it down and leaving spirals in its eyes.
"Whaaa! No fair!" The youngster wailed.
'Yeah yeah, hurry up.'
The youngster searched John's face for any sympathy, and found none.
"Okay… here you go." The youngster handed over John's victory money, comprising his entire allowance. He seemed close to tears, but John didn't notice, he was already continuing to Viridian City.
Sure enough, with only another fifteen minutes of walking, he had arrived. There wasn't a wall, or a specific border to show that he was in Viridian City, but once he passed the first few houses he let out a sigh of relief.
'All that's left for today is to find a place to stay.' John's stomach growled.
'Aaaand maybe get some food.'
Non-canon corner:
"I can't believe you abandoned me!" Sarah cried.
"No, it's not like that!" John desperately said, trying to defend himself. "I just had faith you would be okay even if you weren't with me."
"Flattery will get you somewhere, but that wasn't nearly good enough."
"Uhhh… Amber is really cute?"
"You bet she is!" Sarah's focus was now past the whole leaving thing.
"Crazy how this is how our journey started. I figured if we were both main characters we would stick together." John said. "I mean normally you and your rival go on parallel journeys."
"So am I your rival?" Sarah asked.
"I honestly didn't get that vibe from you. You weren't from this world, so you couldn't have been a rival character."
"When we first started talking, I saw you as somebody who I'd be going on a journey with, so it was pretty surprising to me as well that we got separated."
"I'm sure we'll meet again someday. If we weren't going to be relevant to each other then we wouldn't have met in the first place."
"Hey, stop overanalyzing the story!" Sarah shouted.
"Why? This is all non-canon anyway."
"Stayincharacterstayincharacter-"
"Comedy." John says flatly.
"Oh yeah, what about that child's allowance you just stole-"
John cut her off. "Aaand we are done here. Thank you for tuning in to the Non-Canon corner, have a wonderful day."
"Hey I'm not done!-"
Author's notes:
Firstly, thank you for reading the first chapter of this story to the end. I'm pretty excited to write this story, and I hope we'll read along with it to the end. To start with, I'll write about a few things I'm thinking about right now.
I think having a non-canon corner might be a neat quirk, to let John and Sarah talk to each other about their own experiences outside the confines of the story. I wouldn't be doing this after every chapter, just after ones with major events, or just when I think there's a good conversation those two could have. Let me know if you like the idea or not.
Currently I'm not sure if I want to write John and Sarah's stories as half of the same chapter, or if I want to alternate focus every chapter. I'll have to make a decision at some point, but let me know what you think.
You may have noticed I've made a few changes, as well as elaborated a few things from pokémon. First, the money you win from fights is a bet you make before the fight. I just think this makes the most sense, because the alternative is that you're just robbing somebody. The other thing is that I called the currency Pokkén (pronounced Po [like the guy from Kung Fu Panda] and Ken [Like the guy from Barbie]). This was because the name pokédollars didn't make any sense to me. It's a mouthful, sounds not that great, and Pokémon is based in Japan, so I think it being named after the Japanese currency makes more sense. Also, Pokkén Tournament.
To note some things you may expect John or Sarah to know: John has only played the mainline games. He has not played Colosseum, Rumble, Shuffle, Snap, or any of those. As for Sarah, she has not watched Origins, or basically any pokémon animation that didn't feature Ash. She has only seen the widely televised pokémon anime, as well as the movies featuring Ash.
That's all for now. Also I likely won't be featuring the Author's Notes section in every chapter in the future. Since this is the first chapter I'm just establishing everything now. Have a good rest of your day!