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Pokémon: The RPG Chapter 1 - New Game, New Life
🕑 Added 2024-12-06 04:28:53 +0000 UTCIt started as just another average day in the average high school that I attended.
The clock had struck one in the afternoon just a couple of minutes ago, and I was dumping my textbooks into my backpack about as fast as I could without causing any damage. My stomach growled as I pulled up the zipper, reminding me that I was in fact running late for my coveted lunch break. Unfortunately, it couldn't be helped- I had to ask my English teacher a few questions, and the man had a habit of practically despawning from school grounds in the afternoon.
My face momentarily twisting into a grimace as I slung the bag over my shoulder, I departed from the empty classroom and closed the door behind me, coming face to face with my twin brother, Adam's easy grin.
"Hey Flor, did Mr. D give you permission to skip out on the club meeting today for your appointment?" he asked, picking up his own bag from where it was leaning against the wall.
"Thanks for waiting, Addy." I replied as we started to walk towards the cafeteria. "And yeah, he did. I had a whole speech prepared beforehand, but he just agreed immediately. I know I should be happy, but it kind of feels like a let-down."
He snorted at that.
"I get what you mean. But knowing what he's usually like, it's probably best to just take the free win and move on. Wonder why he was in such a good mood though…"
"Bro, is that even a question? It's obviously because you crushed it at the debate competition last Saturday. I think he was actually crying during the awards ceremony." I pointed out, making him rub the back of his head sheepishly.
"Hey, it was a team effort."
"No, it wasn't," I said with a scoff. "And I should know because I was on that team in the first place. You were the one who carried, while me and William did our best not to drop the ball. And if you need any proof, the fact that you won first place in the singles category says it all."
"Well, I can't deny that." he said, putting his hands back in his pockets. "But to be honest, if we hadn't gotten that topic about Environmental Pollution I don't think it would've mattered. With how little time we had to prepare, it would've been a mess if we were handed a topic we didn't know anything about."
"True. No matter how good you are at speaking, you can't really do much in a debate without any info."
And that wasn't just limited to debates. In pretty much all facets of life, the most important tools in your arsenal were information and the ability to act on said information. In simpler terms, knowledge is power if you learn how to wield it.
We were silent for a moment, before Adam piped up with a question, an odd glint in his eye. "By the way, who's taking you to the dentist today; mom or dad?"
I rolled my eyes. The question may have seemed innocent enough at first glance, but I knew my brother well enough to know there was another angle to it. Call it my intuition as the elder (and obviously, more responsible) twin of the set- I could inherently tell when he was plotting something.
"Dad is. Mom's still worn out from that investigation yesterday, so he didn't want her to have to drive downtown in the middle of rush hour. Unfortunately for you, she'll still be home, so you can't sneak the last piece of pecan pie while we're away."
"Drat." he grumbled, making me grin. "There goes that plan."
There was something of an ongoing war between him and my mom when it came to the desserts in the household. Neither of them had much of a sweet tooth, but tended to like one or two dishes specifically that they would constantly seek to devour. Because of this, Dad and I usually saved said favorites exclusively for them, but it did little to soothe the competitiveness between the two. In fact, with fewer horses in the race, they focused even more on outmaneuvering each other while sticking to the household rules.
"Anyways." Adam said, seeking to change the topic now that his dreams of nutty goodness had been dashed. "On another note, did you end up finishing Scarlet?"
"Yeah, I beat it a few days ago. The ending bit and Mochi Mayhem were pretty fun, and I enjoyed the Area Zero segments. I wish the cast had more interactions and the plot had greater substance. I get that this is a game for kids, but it feels like they didn't really put as much effort as they could have into it." I replied, adjusting the strap of my backpack.
"That's just the Pokémon games in a nutshell, although Gen 9 had one of the better stories if not the best, at least in my opinion- though all the technical issues overshadowed it something fierce. Only Gen 5 really comes close to the same level of storytelling, though I suppose Gen 7 wasn't bad either. If you want actual plot though, you need to read the Manga. That shit was wild at times."
"Gen 5… is the one with the American Region and evil PETA right?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows a bit. "And Gen 7 is the one in Hawaii- er, 'Alola' I think?"
"You say that like PETA isn't evil normally," said Adam, laughing. "But yeah, right on both counts. Which game are you going to play next, by the way?"
It was a little awkward to admit, but I had only recently gotten into the Pokémon franchise. When I was younger, I hated it because Pokémon was basically the definitive piece of fiction for children at the time, and I used to be obsessed with looking like an adult; so I never really gave it a chance. While my attitude towards that sort of thing changed as I grew up, my psychological disdain of the series remained ingrained in my mind, much to the disappointment of the Pokémon superfan I called a brother. This was how things remained, up until a few weeks ago where I lost a bet and Adam had the brilliant idea to make me fully play through Pokémon Scarlet as my penalty.
And despite it being a lot… simpler compared to the usual games in my catalogue, I had a surprisingly good time on multiple levels. Creature Collector and Turn-Based were two of my favorite gaming genres, so it didn't really take me long to start vibing with the game. The setting and visuals (design-wise, not the graphics) appealed to me more than I thought it would and although the game was, according to what I'd read online, the Cyberpunk 2077 of the Pokémon franchise I didn't run into any disastrous bugs that ruined the experience. At most, I had to weather some lag, but that was something I was long since used to dealing with due to my laptop always being just beneath the required specs for a ton of games.
Now, it wasn't life-changing or anything like that. To make an accurate comparison, if Persona 5 was like a Gordon Ramsey meal, Pokémon felt like Mac and Cheese with a side of Dino Nuggets- not exactly the pinnacle of excellence, but it was filling and comfortable in its own way. It was a perfectly fine game to play if you wanted to unwind from more complicated and intense games like Elden Ring that sometimes made you want to tear your hair out, while still having a good time. And since there was still a couple of weeks until Metaphor: ReFantazio came out, I had the time and motivation to dig into the other titles.
"I'm… not actually sure." I admitted. "I heard that there isn't really a specific order you should play them in, and that none of the games are actually connected to each other, so I really don't know where to start."
Adam thought about it for a moment. "Well, that's not completely true. Apart from Black/White and Black 2/White 2, the latter being a direct sequel to the former, you can't really appreciate some of the games without playing one of the earlier entries in the series. Honestly, I'd recommend Pokémon Platinum next and then Legends: Arceus after that, because while the story isn't directly connected, the lore is. You can borrow my copy of PL: A, but it's probably easier for you to emulate Platinum on your phone."
"Is there a specific Emulator I should use? I never really had the need to use one before, so I'm not really sure which one is the best."
He whipped out his phone, before opening a specific app. "Sure, it's probably best to use Delta. You can download it from the App Store now, so it's not as much of a hassle as it used to be. You wouldn't believe how many times I forgot to refresh it and had to reinstall the whole thing. Lost my save files a bunch of times because of it too, until I actually started saving them as separate files in storage."
A bunch of different titles were arrayed on his screen, and Adam tapped on one in particular- Pokémon Platinum, the cover bearing the image of a giant spiky worm-like creature with tentacle wings. It was somewhat familiar- I think its name was… Giyatina? I'm sure it was something like that, although to be perfectly honest, the only thing I knew about it was that it was supposedly an allegory for Satan and was a Ghost/Dragon Type.
"So what's the difficulty like compared to Scarlet?" I asked, as the screen on his phone began to run through the splash screen of the game.
He took a moment to consider it. "Well, none of the official Pokémon games are ever going to be as hard as your average RPG, but if I had to be honest then I'd say this one is a little more difficult. If you don't over-level, then you might even lose a few battles here and there. The champion fight is the complete opposite of Geeta's though- it's definitely considered to be one of the hardest in the series. Hell, Cynthia traumatized an entire generation of players because of how difficult the battle was. Sure, that was mainly because information was scarce back then and gaming guides weren't really a thing, but I think it still holds up today. Until that point, Champions were only a little stronger than the Elite 4, and didn't really have a team with near perfect coverage like she did. To add on a little more, the Pokémon she used were powerful across the board, without any useless team members like freaking Avalugg and Gogoat. God, I don't know what they were thinking when they cooked Geeta's team…"
I let out a little hum of acknowledgement. I generally liked difficulty in Turn-Based Games, since it was less stressful in my honest opinion and opened up more room for strategy instead of depending heavily on one's aim or reaction time. When I was playing something like Lies of P, I needed to be locked in 100% of the time in combat, while I could take something like SMT V at my own pace even on the hardest difficulty. Now that I had a good grasp of what Pokémon was like, I was kind of in the mood for a more challenging title under the franchise's umbrella.
My eyes drifted back towards the screen, where Adam was about to open his save file. What caught my attention was the location where he had last quit the game.
"Hall of Origin?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. If that wasn't some kind of secret endgame area, I'd eat my backpack.
He laughed sheepishly. "It's a special event area that never originally saw the light of day because the Mystery Gift item that would let you access it wasn't distributed for some reason. It's where you can catch Arceus."
"Arceus?"
Adam opened the menu and went to the Pokémon tab, before selecting the creature in question and opening the summary. I blinked as its art appeared on the screen, before asking a single question.
"Why does it kind of look like a llama?" I wondered, squinting at it. Apart from the head and the golden structure on its back, the Pokémon definitely resembled the South American camelid to no small degree.
"Not sure, Flor." he said. "But this guy is canonically the Pokémon God. Lore-wise, it created the entire universe on its own."
I probably would've had something to say about Game Freak making a llama Pokémon the big G of the franchise, if I hadn't been distracted by something odd that was going on with the image on the screen.
Either I was tripping, or the 2-D rendition of this 'Arceus' was actually looking at us. I blinked my eyes rapidly as my brain randomly decided to kick into high gear, trying to make sure that I wasn't seeing things, only to flinch in surprise when the supposedly inanimate image blinked back. Following its line of sight, I noticed that it seemed to be directly staring at my twin as he continued to ramble on about what seemed to be Pokémon's own Book of Genesis.
For a moment, I felt stupid. Why the hell was I freaking out so much about a sprite glitch for an old game? I didn't really know the answer to that question, but if I were to try and put it into words, it could probably best be described as 'instinct'. A chill of warning ran down my spine the moment I laid eyes on the white llama, a gnawing feeling spawning in my gut that seemed to grow with every passing second, which put me on high alert- and was likely the reason why I was the first to react at what happened next.
The screen I'd been looking so closely at suddenly glitched, before what could only be described as a vortex of purplish energy nearly exploded out from it. Perhaps if Adam had been alone, the blast would've caught him head-on, but luckily, I managed to pass the reaction time skill check and slapped the phone out of his hand before my brain could even consciously register what was happening. Unluckily, however, that meant I had come into direct contact with whatever that strange energy was, even if it was only for a mere fraction of a second.
Of course, I didn't even have time to process how screwed I probably was, before my consciousness seemed to twist and I knew no more.
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What came next was something I couldn't quite describe, mainly because I'd never really had that kind of experience before, nor did I ever read about something similar. If I HAD to put it into words though, it felt like I was being disassembled somehow. My body was stripped away, layer by layer, until the only proof of my existence seemed to be my mind- or rather, my soul. Looking back, I'm thankful it was a painless process, because I couldn't even begin to imagine how excruciating it would've been if this had been a physical process and not some mystical transmogrification.
So there I floated, in whatever unseen space existed beyond that wormhole, essentially nothing more than a ball of roiling emotions that couldn't form coherent thoughts for more than a few fleeting seconds. Perhaps it was because I was essentially locked into a state of panic, not understanding what was happening to me or how my ordinary day had devolved into whatever this was.
…and that was when I heard The Voice.
"Calm thyself, child."
It slammed into me like a freight train, carrying a weight that almost seemed like a physical pressure squeezing down on my non-existent shoulders. Almost immediately, the chaos raging in my psyche fizzled out like it had never been there in the first place, allowing me to regain my composure. Well, as much composure as a disembodied soul could really have. I couldn't deny that it was kind of terrifying, the effect The Voice was able to have on me with just a few words, but at the same time I was grateful because it gave me the opportunity to get my thoughts in order without freaking out.
After a moment's pause, I responded.
"I-I'm calm now. Who are you?"
Fear leaked into my words despite the effort I was putting in to try and hide it. I just couldn't help it, because my instincts were telling me that The Voice was responsible for whatever was happening to me, and it didn't take a genius to realize that spawning real-life wormholes and casually deleting my physical body probably wasn't the work of your average human.
"I am that which Humans call 'Arceus'. Welcome to my realm, located beyond the boundaries of time and space."
"Arce- Wait, that Arceus? The Pokémon llama god?"
Immediately after the words escaped me, I couldn't help but blanch at the fact that I'd called the apparently real Arceus a llama to its face.
'Does this count as blasphemy?'
Way to put my foot in my mouth, not that I currently had either. Fortunately, however, Arceus(?) didn't seem to take it personally, because its next words carried a definite undercurrent of mirth.
"My resemblance to that creature is a mere coincidence, I assure thee. But yes, the conclusion thou has reached is in fact correct."
Which conclusion though? The God part or the blasphemy part?
Well, never mind that, I had much more important things to worry about.
"Why… why did you bring me here?" I asked.
For a moment, there was silence, making the void I was floating in seem even more cold and sullen than it normally did. Then, Arceus responded, but its words did little to soothe the chill that literally permeated my soul.
"My summons was not meant for thee, child. I intended to summon another, but it seems that the flow of fate in thy world had different plans, both for thou and him. As it was not the world that I had created, my authority was far from absolute, and I could not rectify this error. For that, thou hast my sincerest apologies."
Those words confused me for a second, before I made the connection and realized what the actual real-life God (and wasn't that something) was alluding to. That wormhole had come from Adam's phone, and had I not reacted in time, he would've been the one floating in the void having a conversation with a formerly fictional deity. It also sort of made sense why he was the intended target- he had a good head on his shoulders, and a near-encyclopedic knowledge of anything Pokémon-related, from movesets to the amount of times a specific 'Mon showed up in the anime.
Not gonna lie; it was disturbing, to know that my brother had been targeted (and very nearly snatched up) by a deity from another dimension.
But there was something else I had come to realize in the back of my mind, becoming more and more certain of it as my conversation with the Pokémon Allfather continued, that was just as bad.
'I can't go back.'
Arceus knew it had made a mistake by grabbing me, even admitting as much to my face, yet instead of throwing me back into my world and making another attempt at getting the candidate it actually wanted, it instead chose to speak to me in its domain. That was already suspicious in my book, because logically it made more sense to wipe my memories and put me back in place instead of making contact, which would complicate things further. What made things even more damning was the fact that I felt my body get decommissioned when I was drawn into this realm, hence why I was currently bobbing around as a disembodied soul. Call it a hunch, but this process didn't seem reversible to me, especially since Arceus said its powers were limited in my world.
Still, I had to make sure, if only so that I didn't vainly hope that I could return to the way I was merely minutes prior.
"Can you send me back then?"
"…Apologies, but I cannot. As I hath mentioned before, my power in thy world is very limited. Because of this, manipulating life and death is something that lies beyond my stunted capabilities. However, I can offer thee two different paths that thou may choose to walk from this point onward."
Having my suspicions proven right brought me no small amount of grief, as it confirmed beyond the shadow of a doubt that I'd been suddenly separated from everything I'd ever known, but I forced myself to swallow it down as best I could. I needed to use every bit of my brainpower right now, and couldn't afford even the slightest distraction- not while my uncertain future still hung in the balance.
"And what are those?"
"I can reincarnate thee in the world I hath created, removing the memory of thy current life. Thou would be born as an ordinary child no different from those around thou, although I guarantee that by my will, thy new life will be blessed beyond measure. So long as thou continues to walk the path of virtue, pain and suffering shalt never fall upon thee. It is the least I can do, for my mistake has cost thou dearly."
Translation; the slate would basically be wiped clean. I'd be reborn in the Pokémon world without my current memories, and live a wonderful life so long as I didn't end up as a turbo douchebag. I had to admit, it wasn't a terrible deal, not by a longshot. However, if I was being offered a choice in the first place, then I felt like it was probably in my best interest to find out what the second option offered as well.
"However, though thou art not the one I hath intended to summon, the potential to fulfill the same role does exist within thee. If thou chooses to indeed take on this mantle, I will create a new body for thee and send thou to my world to carry out Missions in my name. But I must warn thee- if thou chooses to walk along this road, there is no turning back. Many hurdles will lie before thee, which must be conquered by wit and strength in equal measure. However, should thou manage to overcome that despair… the Principles of this world, a truth long lost to both mankind and Pokémon alike, will be within thy grasp."
When Arceus spoke that word towards the end, it felt like a veritable shockwave ran through me. I'd heard of words carrying power before, but to actually experience it for myself was a little jarring. Whatever these Principles were, I didn't doubt that they were something incredible.
That aside, this sounded more like a standard Isekai transmigration. I'd go to the Pokémon world as I was now, and essentially be Arceus' errand boy. I did appreciate that it was made abundantly clear to me that this choice wouldn't give me the same kind of blissful life as the other option presented to me. I appreciated it when people were frank with me.
Now, I had to pick my future.
An easy life in a new world, where I was practically guaranteed happiness at the cost of my own identity. Or a much tougher one, where I had the chance to become someone greater than I could ever hope to be, no matter how small it was.
If I had to be honest, it would be a no-brainer under ordinary circumstances. I'd go for Option 1, and choose to be reborn, since I had no chance of returning to my old life. I wasn't some shonen protagonist, nor did I feel any real pressing need to discover some long-forgotten secret of the universe. While I enjoyed a challenge, that was only in the gaming sphere and not when it came to matters concerning my life. Plus, when I was actively being warned that I would have a hard time if I didn't choose to be reborn, then it would be in my own best interest to take it seriously. In most of the Isekai media I've seen/read, whatever force was summoning the protagonist tended to downplay how bad things really were, so I was of the opinion that said force in this case outright admitting it things were gonna be rough from the get-go wasn't a great sign of things to come. Sure, there was the admittedly major problem that my memories would be erased and I would be someone else entirely for all intents and purposes. However, it seemed like a fair price to pay in exchange for a better life, so I couldn't knock it.
If I could just leave things at that and take the plunge, I would have. Yet, there was something I needed to consider that nearly escaped my notice- the consequences of my choice. Arceus hadn't said it outright, but it was pretty safe to assume that if I chose to get reborn, it would try to get someone else to fulfill this 'role' in my place. There was clearly some kind of pressing need if this all-powerful being was trying to snatch someone from another world, whatever that may be, and considering I wasn't even its actual chosen candidate, I was 100% sure the God would make another attempt at grabbing someone if I couldn't fit the mold.
And I already knew it had its eye on Adam, considering it had already tried and failed to take him.
So the real question was, could I condemn my own brother to the same fate I was currently experiencing? It was already too late for me, but if I chose to look out for my own benefit here, then the person I cared the most for in the world would be torn away from his life as well; and unlike with me, Arceus might not even offer him the luxury of choice. Sure, there was the slim chance that Adam might actually want to go to the Pokémon world, I couldn't deny that. But I knew him well enough to understand a bitter fact; once the novelty of being transported to the realm of his favorite franchise wore off, he would only suffer there. While he had his strengths and surpassed me in a number of fields, the dude couldn't survive camping a single night in a public park 10 minutes away from our house, to say nothing of the fact that he was so shy he'd wilt in the mere vicinity of a stranger. He didn't stand a chance on his own in an entirely different world, regardless of his foreknowledge. Like I had said only minutes earlier, information was power only when you could act on said information.
In my mind's eye, I could almost see it play out in vivid detail, and the possibilities made me flinch. Worse was how my parents would feel about both of their kids disappearing into thin air without a trace. And even if it wasn't my brother that would be 'scouted' next, wouldn't that mean some other kid would be torn away from their family and be put in this exact situation?
'…Damn it.'
This wasn't an altruistic choice, not really. I didn't mind helping others, but I drew the line at doing favors that would be actively detrimental to me. However, one of the core principles I followed was that family always came first. Choosing to be reborn risked making their lives miserable, so it simply wasn't a viable option. There was no option for me to go back, so I could only go as far as was possible in the opposite direction.
"If you don't mind, Lord Arceus, I'd like to ask something of you." I called out. I was far from comfortable with the choice I was about to make, but I was out of both time and options. It was time to take the plunge. "I'll take the second option, but if it isn't too much trouble, can you erase my family's memories of me and any proof of my existence?"
My folks were great people, who had raised me with kindness and understanding. They didn't deserve to grapple with the knowledge that one of their children had suddenly disappeared into thin air, never to show up in their lives again. And Adam especially shouldn't have to deal with the guilt of being there when I disappeared while being able to do nothing about it, nor the consequences if he tried to tell people that I got sucked into a literal wormhole. There was no way to explain any of this in a way that wouldn't leave them despondent, so I ultimately thought it was better to go the Hermione Granger route and make them think they never had a second son in the first place. It might change their attitudes a little, but I felt like that was the lesser evil compared to having them feel guilty and miserable for years to come.
"…Thy compassion is a commendable thing indeed. Such a boon is within my power to grant, and it shall be done."
It felt like a bit of weight had been lifted off of my chest. I still wasn't exactly happy with this situation, but it cleared my conscience a bit to know that I wouldn't be leaving my parents and brother behind with broken hearts. Although, I didn't feel like there was anything compassionate about the decision I'd made- from a purely logical standpoint, it was the better choice.
"Now, I wish to know thine appearance- or rather, the appearance thou wishes to take going forward."
Suddenly, a pane of light appeared in front of me, almost as if it was being projected directly into my mind. Considering that I'd been unable to see for the duration of this conversation due to my acute lack of actual eyeballs, it was a relief. On said pane were what I could only describe as a variety of character models, with options to customize things such as hair color and skin tone. Weirdly enough, they were all animated as if in a videogame character creator, but that was probably the least strange thing going on at the moment; and that made it easy to ignore.
I idly flipped through the various portraits before me, content with the distraction from the existential crisis I was just barely holding at bay by putting on a front, before I found one that was familiar to me- the one depicting the male protagonist of Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, who coincidentally shared the same name as me. For a moment, I paused.
'A little shorter than I'd like, but I guess it's fine.'
Selecting that image, I left the face and hairstyle the same, before selecting the options for gray hair and amber eyes. Funnily enough, these were features that I actually had normally, the former a result of Type 3 Griscelli Syndrome and the latter a trait inherited from my father. When I was younger, I'd wished that we looked more normal because of the attention it would draw towards the two of us, but now that I was in this position I couldn't bear the thought of losing it. I guess a part of me felt like it would be easier to accept this new body as my own if it shared some of my most distinctive features. Even if it did leave me resembling a junior version of Yu Narukami, sans the eyes.
"I'm done." I said, after giving it a once-over one last time.
"Very well. All is correct and as it should be?"
"Mhm."
There was nothing more for me to do here. And honestly? I just wanted to go back to being an actual person instead of whatever the hell I was now, even if it wasn't in the body I'd been born with.
"Florian Belrose…. welcome to the world of Pokémon."
With those final words, a brilliant light filled the void, and my consciousness once again fizzled out.
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I woke up to the feeling of something vibrating in my pocket. And sand. Lots and lots of sand, all around me.
Hissing like a wounded animal, I scrambled up to my feet, my arms automatically moving to try to dislodge as much gritty substance from my clothes as possible. Fortunately, it looks like I hadn't been laying down for too long, as it hadn't gotten into my shirt or shorts. Before I could feel too relieved though, I felt the vibration in my pocket again, and stuck my hand in to try and take my phone out to see who was calling me.
Weirdly enough, my pocket seemed to be significantly bigger than I remembered, though I didn't really think about it too much in favor of seeing who was trying to contact me.
It was when I tilted my head down to look at my phone that I saw something strange- the device I was holding in my hands wasn't my phone. In fact, it was unlike any phone I'd ever seen in my life. The general design looked like the iPhone I used to have at least as far as the screen went, but the case was pretty weird. It was large and somewhat unwieldy, with a weird design that looked kind of familiar, now that I really thought about it.
Kind of like-
My eyes widened as the memories suddenly came back to me. The wormhole, the void, the choice I'd made, the God who had presented it to me- all of them burst back into my head with the force of a veritable typhoon.
And almost as if on cue, the screen lit up, with the following message being displayed to me.
'I bestow upon thee this Arc Phone and thy mission: become the most powerful Trainer in all the land.'
The device then unlocked itself on its own and moved to what looked like the home screen, showing a bunch of apps that I didn't recognize, though one in particular stood out because it was literally glowing; a clear invitation to open it. To my utter lack of surprise, its app icon shared the same familiar design as the phone case, and was apparently called 'System Interface'.
I tapped it, and a Menu displayed itself on the screen, with the following options.
[Trainer Status]
[Pokémon Status]
[Skills and Perks]
[Missions]
[Bonds]
[Extra]
Understandably, I couldn't contain my shock; this looked an awful lot like a Gamer ability of some sort. Nothing Arceus said even hinted at him granting me this kind of Isekai bonus, so I was more than a little flabbergasted, although this time it was actually in a positive way.
Another message popped up, presumably from my patron as well.
'This application will help thou monitor thy progress through a variety of different means, and will allow you to customize thy parameters and growth in a way that others cannot. It will prove useful to thee in overcoming the challenges of Legendary Mode.'
Legendary Mode? The hell was that supposed to be?
Almost as if in direct response to my thoughts, the message on screen was replaced with another, much larger one that took me nearly half a minute to go through.
'Baby Mode: Leveling up Pokémon and Skills will be 10 times faster than in Normal Mode. Thou will have the opportunity to assign an additional 7 Bonus Stat Points when determining thy Status for the first time. However, the options available to develop thy Pokémon are severely limited. Additionally, large areas of the world and certain opportunities will be locked away from thy reach. If thou hath chosen the path of rebirth, this Mode is what would've been granted to thee. A path of bliss, but one that denies any sort of 'adventure'.
Normal Mode: The 'Standard' of this world. 5 Bonus Stat Points will be available. Pokémon development is limited but not completely restricted. The Experience gained in this Mode will be equivalent to the same rate as thy peers. Exploration, in all senses of the word, is easier than in Baby Mode but still quite limited.
Mythical Mode: Leveling up Pokémon and Skills will take 2 times longer than in Normal Mode, and 3 Bonus Stat Points are available for personal development. The amount of Pokémon thou can catch is restricted to 6, although additional Capture Slots may be purchased with Battle Points and the level to which these Pokémon can be developed far surpasses what a user of Normal Mode is capable of. Certain restrictions will also be lifted, though not in their entirety.
Legendary Mode: Leveling up Pokémon and Skills will take 20 times longer than in Normal Mode, and no Bonus Stat Points are granted to thee. No Pokémon apart from your 'Starter' can be caught without the purchase of additional Capture Slots. Pokémon Levels will be capped unless certain Milestones are met. However, there is no limit to how far thou can develop thy Pokémon and all worldly restrictions will no longer apply to thee. It is indeed a path filled with strife, but as I hath mentioned earlier, it is not without its own rewards.'
I was at a total loss for words.
Had Arceus been screwing with me? None of this had been mentioned when it gave me the options to pick from!
'Although…' I wondered as a certain realization settled in and cooled off my temper before it could even begin to flare up. 'Would that really have changed anything?'
This whole Legendary Mode business hadn't been told to me, sure, but the reason why I'd chosen to become Arceus' pawn had nothing to do with it in the first place. I'd done so to shield my family, not because I wanted to become some sort of Isekai Hero. This was, as much of a migraine as it was starting to give me, more a consequence of that choice than anything.
Although I couldn't help but be confused by the implications of all this. The mention of Stat Points and Skills made it clear this was some kind of Gamer System analogue, but why did I get the feeling that the big llama had treated it more like an afterthought? Personally, I felt like that would have been something you'd mention first when trying to recruit someone from another world to do stuff for you. I'm sure there was a good percentage of the human population back home that would've been totally fine with selling their souls if they could be real-life Gamers.
Then there was the odd contradiction. Why ask me to become the most powerful Trainer in the land… and then stick me with what could only be described as a 'curse' that makes that exact mission unnecessarily harder? Needing 20 times the amount of EXP as the average person to level a Pokémon up was madness, especially because Pokémon training in reality obviously wasn't going to be as easy as it was when it was just a videogame I could button mash through. It just didn't make any sense.
I closed my eyes and raised one hand to massage my temple, forgoing any attempt at understanding whatever the fuck was going on and instead focusing on getting my immediate priorities sorted. The reality was that there was no way I could understand the whims of a God as I was now. Attempting to try and fit the motives of a literal alien omnipotent(?) creature into the framework of human logic was an idiot's crusade. Instead, it was best to just do what I'd been doing so far and play along, because the new message that popped up on the 'Arc Phone' told me that the big guy wasn't quite done with me yet.
'Now, before thy journey is to truly begin in earnest, please return to the Menu and select the first option. One more thing is yet to be finalized.'
I did as I was asked to, and got my first glimpse of what lay under 'Trainer Status'. My first impression was that it kind of looked like your average status screen, which I suppose was the entire point. My full picture was on the right side, down to the clothes I was currently wearing, while the left side had something far more interesting.
[Name: Florian Belrose
Age: 15
Money: 0 PD
BP: 0
Current Level Cap: 10
Stats:
Charisma - 5 (+/-)
Intelligence - 5 (+/-)
Aura - 5 (+/-)
Dexterity - 5 (+/-)
Remaining Points - 0]
My name and age were both correct, while I was utterly broke- no surprises there. The Level Cap was painful, but I knew there had to be a way to raise it so I didn't let it bother me too much. That aside, the layout for my 'Stats' kind of reminded me of the SPECIAL ruleset from the Fallout games, except with fewer parameters to choose from. A small text box appeared, likely to tell me what each Stat did, an explanation that was much appreciated.
'Similar to those seen in Pokémon, each Stat plays an important role in different types of actions and interactions. They are as follows;
Charisma - This Stat not only enhances thy physical appearance but also allows thou to draw the attention and admiration of both Humans and Pokémon alike with greater ease. As such, it increases the development rate of Bonds, granting greater opportunity when interacting with others.
Intelligence - This Stat provides increments towards thy reaction time and mental processing capabilities. Additionally, the amount of information yielded by the 'Scan' Skill increases in proportion to Intelligence.
Aura - This Stat increases the power of thy Aura, which not only strengthens one's constitution but also grants thee a scaling level of resistance to abnormal effects. Synchro Skills, special abilities that require both Trainer and Pokémon to activate, are dependent on this Stat.
Dexterity - This Stat increases thy hand-eye co-ordination and spatial awareness. Certain categories of Skills, such as Crafting Skills, require a certain level of Dexterity to unlock. These types of Skills, uniquely, have their outputs dependent on both Skill Level and the Rank of thy Dexterity.
Now, please assign thy Stats according to thy wishes.'
Curiously, I tapped the minus symbol next to Charisma. Predictably, the Stat's value decreased to 4 and the counter of remaining Stat Points I had increased by 1. With a hum, I tapped the plus sign next, and watched as it returned back to its original value.
I'll be real; I wasn't sure what to choose here. Each of the Stats were enticing in their own way, and in my eyes none of them really had a significant advantage over the others, especially since Pokemon battles 'IRL' would be closer to the anime than the games. However, I was glad that I at least had the option of deciding for myself what Stats I wanted, without any pressure to pick a certain configuration. It was nice to have true freedom of choice again after how the last hour had gone.
After a minute or two of deep thought, I carefully redistributed my points, leaving me with the following Stat Spread;
[Stats:
Charisma - 7 (+/-)
Intelligence - 4 (+/-)
Aura - 5 (+/-)
Dexterity - 4 (+/-)
Remaining Points - 0]
If I were playing an ordinary videogame, I'd be much more receptive to the idea of Min-Maxing my Stats, but with this being something that would actively affect my everyday life, I didn't want to take any risks. Last thing I needed right now was to accidentally lobotomize myself by reducing my Intelligence too much to squeak out an extra Stat Point for Dexterity, or something along those lines.
The reasoning behind the choices I made here was pretty simple.
Charisma was the most important Stat out of the four, at least for me. I didn't really give a damn about my appearance (otherwise I'd have spent much more time designing my body), but I needed every advantage I could get when it came to the one thing I wasn't sure I could pull off without help- befriending a Pokemon. To complete my mission, it went without saying that I'd need to interact with and earn the loyalty of a good number of Pokemon. Problem was, I didn't really have any experience with animals. I was just an ordinary teenager, not a zookeeper or anything. I had a dog in the past, sure, but I didn't think that really meant much since I obviously didn't tame him in the wild and bring him home. Becoming the strongest Trainer in the world would be a little difficult if I couldn't actually get my Pokémon to do anything in the first place. Not to mention, I doubted I was getting a Starter Pokémon given to me like in the games, so I'd have to try my luck in the wild- and having the ability to befriend some quickly while I was virtually defenseless sounded pretty good in my book.
Aura was the next priority in my eyes. Even if I couldn't increase it because I needed every free Stat Point to pump up Charisma as much as possible, I didn't want to decrease it either. Physical strength and a resistance to 'abnormal effects' sounded pretty important in a world where the local wildlife had superpowers. And that wasn't even counting access to 'Synchro Skills'. While I didn't know too much about Mega Evolution beyond the basics of what it did, since it wasn't available in Scarlet, judging by the description Terastallization likely fell under the same category- and I needed that.
That left Intelligence and Dexterity as pseudo-dump Stats. It wasn't like they lacked any importance; rather, they just didn't suit my immediate priorities. Their downsides could also be mitigated rather easily, since the Pokédex could sub for the Scan Skill (which I assumed was equivalent to the 'Observe' Skill from Gamer stories) and I could just buy stuff instead of crafting it. The hit to my reaction time and reflexes would be rough, no denying it, but I had to write it off as a necessary sacrifice. Besides, I had only reduced the two Stats by a single point each so I doubted the consequences would be too bad.
Or so I hoped.
With only the slightest bit of hesitation, I tapped the small check mark that had appeared below the Stat portion of the screen, and flinched as the Arc Phone glowed with a pale light that enveloped me. I could sense a change almost immediately, as I felt a strange warmth flow across my body from the tips of my hair to the soles of my feet. The sensation, however, disappeared as abruptly as it had arrived in the first place.
A little anticlimactic, but I didn't feel too different, so I was a little relieved.
Not for too long, though, as one final message popped up on my phone.
'Everything is now set. Take heart, Florian, and begin thy journey through this world.'
With a deep exhale that almost qualified as a sigh, I put my phone back in my pocket, confident that I wouldn't be getting any more divine text messages.
...
Then I pinched myself.
The twinge of pain made me close my eyes, knowing that there was no chance this was all just some kind of crazy dream.
'I wish it was. I really do. Mom, Dad, Adam…'
My hands shook for a moment as my vision blurred, but I managed to muster up as much of my willpower as I could to squish my feelings into a neat little ball and push it down. I wanted nothing more than to let it all out, but I couldn't afford to be distracted right now.
I had work to do, and a goal to strive towards.
Become the very best, like no one ever was.
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Curious blue eyes gazed at the child from afar, their owner hidden behind an outcropping of rock only meters away.
He had completed the long trek from his mother's resting place in the mountains, returning to the place where he'd once spent his youth in the hopes that he would find some cure for the loneliness that seemed to eat away at him. That was when he'd seen it; a small human resting on the sands, unmoving.
It had immediately caught his interest.
Now, he'd seen his fair share of humans before. It was hard not to really, considering how many of them there were, and how important they were to Pokémon like himself. And yet, something told him this human was different. A part of him wanted to go closer and take a closer look at it, but anxiety had overcome him before he could even take a step, especially when the target of his gaze stirred.
As the human got up and stared silently at one of those small devices he had seen other humans using in his travels, he hid and watched, unsure of what to do.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the two-legged figure stood for a few more seconds before walking away from the surf.
The observer knew he couldn't let it go. A part of him was drawn to that human, in a way that he didn't quite understand.
And so, trying his best not to be seen, he slowly padded after it.
Perhaps, if he was brave enough, he could ask that human to be his friend and travel together.
After all, it seemed to be pretty lonely as well.
