The boys

The players had just arrived in Pewter City, and the atmosphere was electric with excitement.

The vibrant and wholesome graphics of the game left them in awe.

"YOOOO, THIS GRAPHICS LOOK SO CLEAN AND BRIGHT!" exclaimed one player, admiring the surroundings.

"What is this? It's so cute!" another player marveled at the adorable creatures they encountered.

"I've played other games made by Arceus company, but this one has a totally different vibe!" someone else added, noticing the distinct color palette and design.

Most of the players had chosen Pewter City as their starting point, likely because they were eager to face the Gym Leader.

However, Rey and Bob were still in Viridian City, catching up with the others.

Lukas, who had just arrived, seized the opportunity to take charge of the group.

He climbed onto a rock and called out, "BOYS!"

The others turned their attention to the red-haired guy standing on the rock.

"Is that you, Cuckmaster6969?!" a slightly disheveled guy with blue hair asked in surprise.

"Yes! It's your beloved Cuckmaster!" Lukas confirmed with a proud grin.

"I always thought Cuckmaster6969 would be some ugly, fat guy..." an emo-looking guy muttered as he exchanged glances with the blue-haired player.

"Birdup?"

"Yeah."

"YOOO, you look like a rock star!" the blue-haired player said, impressed.

"And you look like an American. Luckily, your hair isn't rainbow-colored," Birdup retorted.

"???"

Among the group were also three newcomers: a chubby guy, a heroic-looking guy, and an innocent-looking guy.

"Newbies! Introduce yourselves!" Lukas commanded.

"Bigchef."

"Zero2Hero."

"Oceanlover."

"Birdup."

"Billy."

As expected, out of the five, there was always one with a name that stood out.

"This is the world of Pokémon!" Lukas declared, dramatically pulling out a Poké Ball and summoning Gible.

Gible? (Huh?)

The five newcomers were instantly captivated by the little shark Pokémon and crowded around to pet it.

"It's so cute!!"

"It looks like a hammerhead shark!"

Gible, feeling overwhelmed by the attention, bit down on Bigchef's hand.

"Ouch! That hurts!"

"Of course it does; we're fully immersed in the game with our consciousness," Lukas explained, smirking.

Technology is the best.

"Alright, have you guys had enough of admiring my Pokémon? If so, follow me!" Lukas instructed, leading the group towards Viridian Forest.

"This place is kinda scary..." Billy remarked as he nervously eyed the dark, dense forest.

"Scary? Are you kidding me? There are no ghosts here, and we can't die for real. Even if we do, we'll just respawn!" Lukas scoffed, dismissing Billy's fears.

As they ventured deeper into the forest, they encountered a wild Pokémon—Oddish.

"Its design is so simple," Birdup commented as he studied the small grass-type Pokémon.

"At least it's cute."

Lukas turned to the group with a sly smile. "This is a wild Pokémon, meaning it doesn't have a trainer yet."

"To catch it, we need a Poké Ball," Lukas said as he pulled out five Poké Balls he had bought earlier and handed them to the group.

"So, we just throw the ball at it to catch it? Sounds easy," Bigchef remarked.

"It sounds easy, but actually catching it is another story," Lukas replied with a smug smile that made everyone want to punch him.

"Well, I'm not catching this one. My target is bird Pokémon," Birdup declared.

"And I'm only interested in water Pokémon," Oceanlover added.

"You guys are so picky! Fine, go look around and see what you can find," Lukas sighed.

The group split up to search for their ideal Pokémon. Birdup, lucky as ever, stumbled upon a flock of bird Pokémon—mostly Pidgey.

"I like it and I want it!" Birdup's eyes sparkled with excitement.

But how was he going to catch it...?

...Birds usually search for food, right?

Birdup quickly gathered some berries and fruits, then approached the flock of Pidgey.

Pidgey is a friendly pokémon so they were curious about the human approaching them.

Birdup scattered the berries and fruits on the ground, and the Pidgey flock chirped in delight as they started eating.

This human is so kind! Let's eat!

The Pidgey happily pecked at the berries and fruits, while Birdup grinned mischievously.

'They're just like pigeons when you feed them!' Birdup thought to himself.

The other four players, who hadn't found any Pokémon they liked—or hadn't found any at all—returned to the original meeting spot.

"Huh? Where's Birdup?" Lukas asked, but the others shrugged, equally clueless.

Lukas sighed and decided to follow the direction Birdup had gone.

When they reached him, they were stunned to see Birdup surrounded by Pidgey.

"HOW IS HE SO LUCKY?!" one of them exclaimed.

"They look like chickens. Maybe we can cook them..." Bigchef suggested.

They all approached Birdup, who waved them over.

"Hey, why don't we catch them together?" Birdup offered.

"Are you sure? You're the one who found them," someone hesitated.

"But I only have one Poké Ball. Even if I wanted to catch them all, I couldn't take care of so many, so I'd rather share them with everyone."

"Bro..." The group was touched by Birdup's generosity.

So Birdup used sweet words to quickly convince the Pidgey flock.

As long as they were with a trainer, they would always have delicious food.

As a result, everyone caught a Pidgey except Lukas and Oceanlover.

Lukas wanted only super cool Pokémon on his team, and cute ones like these were worthless to him! (Golisopod emergency exit go brrrr).

Meanwhile, Oceanlover was simpler, he only wanted water-type Pokémon, not birds.

So, all four had Pidgey, while the remaining ones said goodbye to the players.

The group returned to Pewter City, and Lukas stood up and said, "Today, since you've all captured Pokémon, we'll go fight the boss!"

Everyone looked at Lukas in surprise.

"What? So soon?"

"It has to be soon! The Indigo League starts next month!"

'Indigo League?' Everyone was confused.

Seeing that no one knew what he was talking about, Lukas briefly explained.

"That sounds great! I want to fight in the league too!" Zero2hero's eyes burned with determination.

"Then let's go! Time to fight the boss!" Lukas raised his hand, and the group cheered.

The people looked at the players and quickly avoided them, thinking they were some kind of strange people.

***

Brock's younger brother, Brick, was standing in the middle of the gym.

After being entrusted by Brock to take over the gym leader's duties, he always took his job seriously.

But there was one thing to complain about...

It's so boring!

Standing around waiting for a trainer to challenge him was such a waste of time!

Now I understand why you wanted to go on an adventure, brother...

Suddenly, six people entered the gym with great enthusiasm.

Brick was startled as he looked at the six of them.

'What's this? A group?'

"Who are you?" Brick asked bluntly.

"Us? We're The Boys! And we're here to challenge you!" Lukas stepped forward and pointed at Brick.

Challenge? CHALLENGE?! A CHALLENGE!!!

FINALLY!!! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!!!

"Alright!" Brick nodded and immediately ordered his little brother to referee.

"Send out your Pokémon!"

"I'm first!" Zero2hero stepped forward, took out a Pokéball, and threw it.

Pidgey!

... Are you really challenging rock-type Pokémon with a flying-type?

Or did you watch that guy Red's battle with my brother and try to imitate it?

No! Calm down, Brick. There are no weak Pokémon, only weak trainers!

But that's a Pidgey... it looks like it was just caught recently...

Brick thought for a long time and decided to send out the weakest Pokémon he had, a level 8 Geodude.

"Pidgey, use... uh... what was it again?"

"Use Tackle, you idiot!"

"Oh right, Tackle!"

Pidgey flew forward and tackled Geodude.

Unfortunately, normal-type moves don't do much damage to rock-types.

Brick covered his face, not knowing what to think about these people...

"Geodude, punch it."

Geodude landed a punch on Pidgey's stomach, sending it flying in pain.

Pidgey fainted!

Brick won!

"NOOOO!!" Zero2hero dropped to his knees in agony, unable to accept this reality.

Did you really believe your Pidgey could beat me without any experience??

You're not Red!

"My turn! I'll avenge you!" Bigchef stepped forward, took out a Pokéball, and threw it.

It's still a Pidgey...

These guys are really giving me a headache!

*****

Alright, I really didn't know Magikarp can't be cooked because of its bones, but since I already wrote it, let's just assume Magikarp can be cooked into food in this fanfic.