First Chapter

Just my luck. My very first trip to Japan was met with disaster as our plan began free falling from the sky. The pilot had said something about complete engine failure due to a lightning strike. Michelle clutched tightly to my arm from where she sat on the right of me. Tears threatening to fall as she held her eyes, I soon followed. Pulling her in close as I closed my eyes as we plummeted to the ocean below. Screams of the other passengers began to fade, but I paid it little mind.

The sounds blended together until all I was left with was a hum, the hum felt like my ears were ringing but then I heard? "Pi-pidgey" I shook my head at the new noise even though I recognized it as any Pokémon fan would, I still didn't believe it. That's when I noticed the hum was gone and I could no longer hear the other passengers from the plane. Risking a glance I was met with Michelle's pitch black hair since I had buried my head into her neck.

Pulling back I was shocked to see a… "a forest?" I whispered softly but it made Michelle jump all the same as here tiny frame shook she jerked her head back. Whipping back and forth to look at our surroundings.

"Jace?" She said quietly and I squeezed her gently as I too began to look around more.

"Pidgey!" The familiar cry came again from the trees and we both locked on to the source.

"I've never seen that bird before." Michelle let out as she stared up into the tree where a bird sat upon a branch. She may not have recognized it but I did.

"I can't believe it… it's a Pidgey. A Pokémon from one of my games!" I said getting louder from excitement or surprise I wasn't sure but I eventually stood up bringing Michelle with me. I pushed her behind me as we stood and looked around. While the Pidgey wasn't acting hostile, if I wasn't having some sort of fever dream and I was seeing a real live Pokémon right now it could attack at any time.

"A Pokémon?" She whispered sharply from behind. "You mean those things from your game?" I nodded quickly, I wasn't sure at first but after more time there's nothing else it could be.

"Looks like it." I finally responded as I looked around trying to process everything. One second we were in a plane plummeting to the ocean below us and now we're standing in the middle of a forest clearing staring at a Pidgey. Were we really in the world of Pokémon?

Faster than I would've thought the bird swooped down at us with a cry and I brought my arm as it flew at us. Though instead of using its beak it lead with its shoulder? The wing and rammed into my arm leaving it a little numb but not too painful. Shaking my arm I search for the Pidgey as I had lost it when it hit me.

"Jace! Watch out it's coming back!" Michelle yelled while pointing into the air. I followed her finger and saw it and it was indeed swooping back around for another.. tackle. It had just used tackle on me and my Pokémon knowledge decided to flood in. It was weak, a low level Pidgey meaning it should only know sand attack and maybe gust. Damn I really hope it doesn't know gust.

As it came back down it swooped low to the ground and dragged its taloned feet across the ground kicking up dirt and rocks at us. There's sand attack I thought I as I brought up the flap of my jacket to shield my face and Michelle behind me. I anticipated the speed of the Pidgey and as soon as I felt the last bit of debris hit my jacket I dropped the flap. The bird was still barreling towards us brining in its wings to fly faster.

I pulled my fist back a launched it forward thanking Michelle in my head for dragging me to those boxing classes she attended for self defense. My first met shoulder of the Pidgey and even though it was lifelike and seemed like a normal bird some part of me didn't expect to head the crunching of bone as I broke its wing with the punch. Truthfully I felt little resistance likely due to the brittleness of bird bones.

The force of my punch launched the bird some 10 or so feet away from us. My knuckles stung slightly but with a shake of my hand I was fine.

"What the fuck?" I finally let out as I stared at the Pidgey that was collapsed on the ground with swirls in its eyes. I felt Michelle's hand grip my shoulder before turning me around, she didn't have tears in her eyes like when we were on the plane. They were filled with worry, sure, but that was it.

"Jace your hand." She said softly as she picked my hand up with both of hers. My knuckle had split from the punch and it was bleeding a little but not enough to worry about.

"Hold still." She gave me one of her looks so I left my hand where she had been holding it as she dug through her purse. She took out a couple tissues and begin cleaning away the blood.

"I'm sorry but I don't have anything to disinfect it… we were going to buy that stuff once we landed in Tokyo.." She said with a sad tone, but then I remembered something and chuckled. Wit my other hand I reached into my pocket and pulled out a mini bottle of vodka with a smile as I held it up.

"They use these in the movies don't they?"

"What is that?" Michelle asked confused and before I could say anything I saw it out of the corner of my eye and blinked in surprise. What was in my hand was not a mini bottle of vodka that the airplanes give out to passengers. It was a…

"A potion?" I said dumbfounded as I inspected the item in my hand and sure enough it was a potion from the games albeit a much smaller one than the ones they had used in the shows. There was a button on the side and nozzle poking out so I pointed it towards my bloody knuckle and pushed the button. Liquid misted out and covered my knuckle, soon the skin began knitting itself back together as if there was never a wound.

"Wow…" I let out before looking up at Michelle to see her shocked expression. Soon we both began laughing and fell to the ground, just laughing at the insanity of it all. We were in the Pokémon world. A Pidgey just attacked me. And a potion that used to be vodka that just healed my wound. Half of me was thinking I was living the dream being in the Pokémon world but the other half was worried how Michelle would take it.

She was outdoorsy, camping, hiker type, but would she want to do that with animals that could call down lightning or spew fire. I'm glad she is since I can't imagine how lonely I would be without her, but does she want to be here.

"So what do we do now, Jace?" Her question broke my inner dilemma and I looked at her carefully. There were a lot of things we could do, but the things we should or need to do were fewer. Standing I lift her up with me dusting our clothes off as I look around a little closer. The first thing I see makes me smile as I point towards it.

"Our bags! Our bags from the overhead storage came with us." Trotting over I open my backpack to be met with a message box like from a game.

<Trainer Bag>

<Items>

<Money>

There was no icon to press so I just thought Items and another screen pulled up.

<Item Storage>

Shirt x2

Long sleeve shirt x2

Pants x2

Shorts x2

Underwear x7

….

The list continued of items I had packed in my carryon bag but I soon found things that I hadn't put in there.

Pokédex (Verified)

Pokéballs x5

Potion x5

And more pokemon related items and I could feel my jaw hanging open threatening to form into a smile.

"This is amazing." I heard Michelle say from a couple feet away, she was also staring at her bag. She shook her head likely to get rid of the screen and lifted the bag marveling at the lightweight of it.

"I could hike forever before if my bags had always been this light with this much inside." She let out a short chuckle, before a water bottle appeared in her hand.

"This is…" she trailed off

"Insane?" I asked her and she hesitated before nodding her head.

"Ya. Insane just about sums it up, but I can't deny how cool it is." Nodding I pulled up the bag menu and selected the Pokédex. A small smartphone looking device popped into my hand performing a facial scan.

<Owner Confirmed>

Jace Perry

Hometown: Pallet Town

Approved Pokémon Trainer: Starter available at Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Age: 21

At the top above my name was a picture of me, identical to the one on my Driver's license. But seeing the hometown and the fact that I had starter waiting for me at Oak's lab sent a wave of excitement over me. Clicking the back arrow at the top left it brought me to a Home Screen with multiple apps including a GPS! Clicking on it a map with a red arrow and a blue arrow appeared. Clicking on the red brought up my profile, so I clicked on the blue as well.

<Paired Pokédex>

Owner: Michelle Baker

Distance: 10 feet away.

Interesting so now if we get separated somehow we can make our way back to each other.

"Babe. Go back into the bag and pull out the thing labeled Pokédex, I gotta show you this." I said as moved to crouch down next to her.

"Ooh it's just like a smart phone." I nodded at her words and watched as it went through the same process mine did.

<Owner Confirmed>

Michelle Baker

Hometown: Pallet Town

Approved Pokémon Trainer: Starter available at Professor Oak's Laboratory.

Age: 20

"Awww why did it have to use my driver's license picture." Her complaint caused me to chuckle as I guided her to the map.

"Look I'm the red arrow and you're the blue arrow." Swapping over to my phone I angle it to where she can see it as I zoom out.

"Aaaand this" clicking on the building icon closest to our arrows, "is Pallet Town. It looks like we're only about 10 minutes North of it. It's only 9 am so we have plenty of time to make it there." Smiling I look to her to see her relieved face and we both stood up following the compass on the Pokédex until we were facing south.

"Do you think someone there will be able to help us figure out how we got here? Or better yet how to get back home?" Feeling bad for her I turned and put my hand on her shoulder.

"I-I don't think we should tell people how we got here, not that we know either."

"But why? How are we supposed to get back?" She pleaded and I felt my heart twist.

"Because just imagine if someone came up to you telling you that they came from another world. You would think they were crazy, right? We are those people right now and I don't want anyone thinking we're crazy. For now let's just head to this town and we can figure out what we're gonna do from there. So far this seems exactly like my games and shows I watched, speaking of."

I turned back to the Pidgey I had knocked out and tossed a Pokéball at it. Enjoying the feeling of the ball going from tiny and then expanding just like I'd seen in the show and watching as the Pidgey disappeared inside with a red light. 3 rocks of the ball later a satisfying click went off followed by a ding. I had a big smile on my face as I grabbed the ball and felt my Pokédex vibrate in my pocket. Pulling it out a screen popped up with information on the Pidgey I just caught comparing to the average.

According to this it was slightly smaller than most pidgeys. Turning I saw Michelle smiling at me.

"What?" I asked only for her to shake her head.

"You're enjoying this, huh? I've only seen you like that when you were ingrained in your work or playing your games." Rubbing the back of my neck I nod.

"Ya… This is like a day dream for me. Even in highschool I would imagine being sent to the Pokémon world, it just doesn't feel real. Are you mad?"

"No silly! I'm happy for you, though I am scared as well being in such a new place. Not as much now that I know it's someplace you're at least somewhat familiar with. Besides maybe I can finally get you to hiking and exploring with me haha."

I laughed with her and then pulled her into a big hug and then a deep kiss.

"I'm glad you're here with me, I couldn't imagine doing this alone." I said as I continued to hold her.

"I'm sure you'd manage. You would find the easiest and laziest way to do it but you would do it I'm sure."

"Thanks, I guess." Giving a dry chuckle as turn, throwing my bag on to my back. Pulling my baseball cap that now had a Pokéball on it instead of my team's logo and put on my shades.

"Well. Lets get going." I hold out a hand to Michelle and she grabs it with a smile.

I guess this is the beginning of our Pokemon journey. A Pidgey as my first Pokemon is not exactly what I would have wanted, but it still feels nice. I don't imagine punching will work on every Pokémon after all. As for our goal? I know that I want to catch pokemon, Michelle wants to travel. Neither of us left any family back home but we do have some good friends. I don't necessarily want to leave but there's got to be at least one pokemon that could send us back if we wanted. Arceus? Palkia? Jirachi can grant wishes? I don't know, I'll just enjoy my time for now.