Chapter 2

Neither the games nor real life could ever hold a candle to real life.

Sorry, I guess that would sound pretty random all of a sudden. Still, I couldn't get over how liberating Pallet Town was after being born and raised in it these past twelve years. Open grass plains that stretch far and wide past the boundaries of the quaint, humble town. The rushing network of the rivers that connect with the southern ocean, not too far from the local bay, flowing right past each dirt trail.

Ugh…I'm probably butchering things by not being trying to make my words too colorful. In all, Pallet Town seemed like the definition of a rural town that made all the so called rural towns in my past life look like a joke…well at least the ones that weren't in a third-world country.

A quiet, considerable town just barely on the outskirts of being in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it was common for folks to come over here by plane, boat, or vehicle as most trainers who want to traditionally start their Kanto circuit when either coming from abroad or have been given express permission to receive a starter from the Legendary Professor Oak himself. Yet, they'd never fully stay for long as Pallet was simply just a stepping stone for most of them.

Beyond that Pallet Town about as simple as you can get. The community's super close, so being born and raised here, I practically know almost everyone here. Which made all the Uncles, Aunts, and Grannies we have reach the double digits. Being originally from a world much more cynical, I was at first skeptical, but the warmth of everyone in town who willingly helped my family out with no incentive for compensation…well, it softened me up a tad bit.

"Good morning, boys! Here have yourselves some Tamato berries, they'll warm you right up! Ah, don't give me that look, Luke, when you reach my age you'll learn to appreciate spicier foods."

Miss Jenkins didn't need to give mom so many discounts for the sets of berries that she fostered in her plantation.

"Hmph, finally balled that blasted Fearrow of yours, huh, brat? Well do so BEFORE it's waking time. The oversized bird scared away all of the Dodrio before they could do their early morning calls! I almost slept in, and you tell your brother to stop leaving his things on my law-hey, where are you three going? Get back here, I ain't finished with you yet."

Neither did Mr. Grouse, who was your typical grumpy old neighbor, didn't have to volunteer himself to constantly visit our home to care for my illness and watch over a super young Ash when Mom was busy trying to work overtime with her two jobs at Ms. Diane's Bakery and the Showers family's botanical garden.

…Okay, so it's called a Nursery, but it's mostly an area where they preserve exotic plants than simply just Grass Pokémon.

And above all else, the mayor and everyone didn't need to come together to help ease our grief when…

Yeah.

Say what you will about Pallet Town probably being a podunk town in the boonies, I will always declare myself as a part of it with pride.

"I bet I can eat my crepes faster than yours!" Declared my rambunctious and obnoxious little brother.

"Hmph! Get real, Ashy-boy. I'm actually taking the time to enjoy this. Besides, I'm already half-way done to finishing my own, so it wouldn't even be a competition." Snidely remarked my brother's best friend, who should seriously stop trying to act so cool.

"Oh, really!? Well, I'll eat the whole thing in one bite right now!" And risk having to explain to mom why you almost choked to death on route to school? Nah, bro, you have to chill.

"Don't. Inhale. Your. Food. Buds." I spoke with a level of joviality mixed in with some much needed sternness when handling a couple of seven-year olds.

"But-!"

"Do you really want me to tell mom that you're about to choke yourself again?" Ash blanched at my "innocent" suggestion. Nothing but soft foods hand fed by her and his teachers for a whole month. That's literally on the lower scale of Delia Ketchum's Mama Bear meter, trust me.

"No…"

"Good." I twitched at the light snort coming from the other clever gremlin joining us this cold February morning down this dirt road to school. "Don't think I forgot about you, Gary. Do you really want me to spill how quick you got to half of your snack in less than a minute since Miss Diane gave it to us?"

The "coolest" kid in his whole grade division coughed up a lung at my threat. Yeah, you're not slick, Gary. I saw how you were munching away at your crepes and pounding your chest whenever Ash wasn't looking.

Yep, right now it was just me, Ash, and Gary Oak walking down the roads of town to get them to school on time. We were pushing it a little late because someone forgot to brush their teeth and had odor just as bad a tauros crap. I was both embarrassed and glad for Ash's embarrassment by Gary nonstop laughter until we remedied the issue at his home.

Thank the good souls of the Oak family for having a spare toothbrush that Ash forgot from one of his countless sleepovers with them. Since the day I was born, our two families have always been considerate to each other. It pretty much helped that both family's children were agemates and thus easy to shove together to become close friends.

Especially in the frustrating case of one side having a son and the other having a daughter, thus causing shenanigans still to this day.

I really don't like the way Mrs. Oak looked when she gave me Daisy's packed lunch that she mysteriously forgot to take with her to the Professor's lab. I'd call taurosshit on account that Daisy forgot to take her favorite homemade fruit salad or more like a "death" salad with all the freaky berries that she added to it. Like who even needs that many spicy Tamato berries?

So, there were only two possibilities here. A) She either left it here as bait for me to take so she can force me to be up and active today; or B) Her parents swiped it out before she left and plotted this. Either way, I'm still stooge who's going through the motions of their plans for like the hundredth time or whatever.

Waving and saying hello to the other denizens of Pallet Town became an ingrained habit for anyone, who lives here. The kids did their usual innocent spiel of being in awe of any passing pokémon or pokémon battles in the vast plains surrounding town.

It was honestly endearing that they'd maintain such a relentless enthusiasm for the creatures when they're an inseparable part of our everyday lives. I mean, it's hypocritical for me to say that since the appeal of having real life pokémon around me was basically living the dream. But to some extent after my first actual battle and licensure as an official trainer, some battles became…mundane.

Like the current battle that I had to urge the boys to walk past between two youngsters having their respective pokémon of Rattata and Spearow. Watching battles were as fun as being in them, but seeing one between beginners can be a little boring to watch. All that battle amounted to was watching Rattata try to tackle Spearow to unconsciousness while Spearow tried to peck Rattata's brains out with its beak.

No carefully used tactics whatsoever, just having two pokémon bang against each other until one falls over. Sure, you could call that battling when you're just a beginner, but you wouldn't be surprised how many grown trainers love to brute force everything just because they can. No, a true battle is one where you take your pokémon's typing, nature, ability, and moves into account. There wasn't any rule that states that you had to use their moves conventionally or linearly like a video game. This was real life and pokémon plus the trainer (me) possessed more urgency.

Which gave way to imagination and unlocked so many possibilities on where to go with your party. Me personally, I didn't discriminate on what types I wanted save for a few favorites that took precedent. Like Asch, I had to work my butt off to earn the right to choose him first. I had other motives for studying my butt off at such a young age because the few chosen by Prof. Oak were ranked in the order to who'll get their starter first.

So naturally the highest scorer in his class gets first pick, the seconds scorer gets second pick and onwards.

Not that anyone besides the old past Daisy was too upset about it. I was elated at the opportunity to get Charmander and see out the plans I made for the circuit through while Joey…oh god Joey he was a blubbering mess at the opportunity to even get to choose a Kantonian starter. I mean I wasn't, but almost everyone including him was when he was noted to be the third top scorer amongst the five students that Professor Oak chose.

Out of all of the other students, who would have guessed that the orphan amongst us with the least support would make it as one of Prof. Oak's top 3 students? I mean, I contributed to some of that support with some good knowledge that I shared with the kid. If this were some standard shounen manga, he'd be your typical underdog protagonist, and having a soft-spot for those sorts of guys, I helped.

I wonder how he's doing in the Orange Archipelago. Hehe, the dork was so heated that he dropped out in Top 16 of the Conference before he could face me, that he immediately took off to the next challenge to one up my achievement by beating their league. Yup, the Kanto/Johto Circuit may run for the full nine months of the year (starting April and ending in December), but the Orange Island's League was basically year long. As for the reason, well, it's a bit much to clarify in a single sitting without getting into why Hoenn has a full ten month Gym circuit. Uh...before some confusion sets in, it's not because of anything the Orange Islands did, it would just be a lot of comparison between the Indigo League, Hoenn League, and Orange Island's League, which I'm sure no one wants to hear a complete lecture on.

So once January hit, he already took off on his Blastoise and left us a note. We didn't hear word from him until a week later. Apparently, the coast guard managed to dredge him from the shores of Valencia Island.

Professor Oak was rightfully pissed and worried but managed to leave him in the care of a close colleague of his.

Wonder how far along he is by now…

"Hey, bro, you look like you have something on your mind?"

"Something wrong?"

Huh, guess I was in my head again. "Nothing really. Just thinking about how quiet it is without Joey here."

"I know! Joey would have eaten all of his crepes in under 10 seconds if he were here!" I don't know how my thoughts about him led to that train of thought little brother, but you just keep being yourself. "I hope he's doing okay. He hasn't called in a while."

"Nah. Don't worry about it, Luke and Ashy-boy. The less we hear about the tryhard the better, otherwise he'd be giving Gramps more of a headache." Gary waved it off.

"Come on, Gary don't be like that. You must be worried t-ow!" No matter how many times I pinched them, Ash's cheeks will forever be soft to the touch.

"Let it go." I laughed at the boy's incessant flailing and cries of "why's" while looking at Gary. The boy chose not to look directly at me. "I guess in a way, you're right. Only means that he's doing fine."

"Hmph. Like I care." Gary snorted and still refused to look at me.

My smile widened. "You're a good kid, Gary."

"T-Tch, of course I am. After all, I'm Gary Oa-ouuuuuch!" You can be cool later, just let me enjoy pinching both of your adorable cheeks. "Qwwuiit it!"

"Sorry, couldn't resist myself." I laughed.

"Then staaaaaaaaawp~!"

"I'm trying." I lied.

"Bwjhbavdygasy!" Ash gibbered. Thankfully after seven years of experience dealing with my baby brother's nonsensical gibberish, I could translate.

"Yes, yes, you're a good kid too, Ash." The boy had the decency to puff up in pride before remembering that his cheeks were getting pulled off by yours truly. Then the two got into a fight about who between the pair of them were the #1 greatest kid while getting the cheek meat pulled and twisted like taffy. Seriously, they'll fight over anything. We did reach their school by the way, and I did want to make the drop off as smooth and as quick as possible, so I waved them goodbye and turned to head straight to my next destination.

"Bye, bro! See you later!" Ash enthusiastically waved goodbye with Gary trailing beside him with a sheepish look on his face while leaning closer to my brother.

"…Is he seriously going to see gramps and sis looking like that?" Hah, I can hear you, y'know.

Besides, I think I'm dressed appropriately for this outing. If anyone has a problem with it (*COUGH!* Daisy *COUGH!*) then they'll just have to deal with it. I'm already putting in the minimum amount of effort, and just didn't want to be too extra. All I need are my pair of goggles, and I'm square.

So waving goodbye to my brother, his best friend, and his snickering backpack, I snatched a nearby blade of grass and…

Hold on.

…

…

…

Okay, so after returning Kidd into his pokeball, publicly chastising my little brother who plotted with the sneaky Ghost pokémon to possess his backpack, and humbly apologized with him to his teacher, I left the building and grabbed a blade of grass.

I wasn't ignorant to the countless pair of curious eyes on me as I intentionally moved to the side of the Academy where Ash's class was being held. I could already hear the clamoring of the children pressing themselves up against the windows and the very same teacher I apologized to shrieking at them to return to their seats. Yeesh, I'm probably making their job hard on them.

Welp, time to make it even harder for them. Plus, it's probably time I call her in and take her to the lab to get some eats. Arceus forbid her for being too in love with the sheer expanse of Pallet Town's landscape.

As I gently blew into the stray bit of grass in my hands, memories of my past life filled me with a distant memory. One where instead of playing pokémon, I enjoyed a refreshing game of a brave young boy saving a kingdom and a princess from a green ginger pigman. It was always a memory that I held dear since it was a game that I enjoyed sharing with my old cousins.

And so, in commemoration of it, I sang a jaunty tune that always cleared my head after a hard day. It couldn't beat the lullabies that mom sang us, but it helped centered me whenever I get a little "homesick". The melodious hymns released from my impromptu instrument tickled my lips as I caught the faint sounds of galloping grow louder with each minute that I took to extend the song.

The irritating sound of hooves coming to a crackling halt on the grassy terrain and the emergence of a huge oncoming dirt/dust cloud was a nice place to conclude the song. "Good morning, Epona."

My trusty and beautiful Rapidash released an overly enthused snort as she strode up closer to lick me on the cheek and show her delight in meeting me this morning. "Haha, it's nice to see you too girl. I take it that you enjoyed your morning run?"

"Rapidash!" I laughed, a bit exasperated with how breathless she was and yet still look raring to run another full ten laps around the town AND it's outer plains. I had to hand it to the Laramies, they sure do know how to breed and raise top of the line racing pokémon.

Patting the side of her muzzle, I chuckled and pointed in the distance. The clamoring and shouting from behind me was starting to grow. Yeah, weighing between showing off and preventing more trouble for the poor teachers, I chose to direct Rapidash's attention to the well-known facility on a faraway hill in all of Pallet Town.

"I have a bit of an errand to run, so I'll need your help getting to the Professor's place. You think you can handle a 20 kilometer trip in under 15 minutes?"

"Dash-Rapidash!" Dear Arceus does this girl love to run. Stop it with that look while breathing so hard. This should just be an ordinary trek for you. Ugh, whatever. Delicately, I hopped onto the pokemon's back, unharmed by her passionate flames and gave one last wave back to the school children who were-oh god they were beginning to climb out the windows!

Better dip.

"Be good everyone! Let's go, Epona…" With a mighty whinnying heave upward that almost had me falling off her back. Relishing in the joys of running once more, my big racing freak of a pokemon's hooves planted themselves on the grassy ground and shot off like a bullet. Heck, I doubt even a bullet can reach the speeds that Rapidash was showing me.

Until I adjusted my sight to be aware of my surroundings, everything was just a mash of green-blue blurs. Asking for Epona to slow down was like asking for a Snorlax to stop eating mid-meal. My fiery steed loved to race, much more than battling. Sure, she loved to throwdown with other challenges like most pokémon, but the origin of her roots was firmly locked in.

Her and Asch were similar in that regard. My starter was an absolute unit in battle and showed great zest for the art of combat while Rapidash showed an unrelenting drive for a race, win or lose. Such passion really exemplified their stature as fire-type pokémon. Too bad they're passion for their drive overpowered the interest both shared in each other.

Still, I envied my Charizard so much. The lazy jerk got to rest at home all day, while I'm stuck in another ploy to get me out of bed on top of being pushed to "coincidentally" give my childhood friend her forgotten lunch. I swear, no matter the world, parents just love to ship their kids with their friends'. You get caught up in a spoilt girl's big tiff and now everyone thinks you're a thing.

A reminder, I am twelve years old and that abridged telling of my predicament has been happening since I was four.

*SIGH!* Well, I actually had some things to talk about with Professor Oak, and it would be nice to visit them and see if everything's fine down at the lab. Prof. Oak's lab was always like a second home away from home for me. Now of course you'd say it's because of the superstructure of Samuel Oak's 200 acres of land, which accommodated for every type of pokémon under his care. That long list includes those sponsored by him, formerly sponsored, close friends, and a majority of the retired trainers who settled down in Pallet Town.

A month ago, I had to help keep track of the total population and counted up to a whopping 136 pokemon on the premise, both balled up and left out in the sanctuary. It made my measly contribution of a mere 13 pokémon seem like a drop in the bucket. Even more so with me swapping a few out to be at home with me at a time with Asch always being a staple at my home due to good old Starter nepotism.

The others didn't mind…well, everyone except Sylvie didn't mind.

Still everything's been running smoothly. Now it was barely eight minutes and we were already nearing the good old professor's research facility. The front door was but a mere couple of miles away, and right there. But so were the boarded fences with the typical "KEEP OUT" and "BEWARE RELEASED POKÉMON AHEAD" signs. The Professor never skimps out on safety and keeping nosey little brats out, he invested in some pretty damn tall fences. So tall that they reached half of our two story home's height.

Now I could take the stairs all the way up to the front door…

Or…

I could use my hopped up Rapidash's need for speed to leap over the fence and meet up with the professor and Daisy through the back door. Now I'll need time to carefully think this over. Ah, whoops! Mid-thought I already gave Epona the command with a light pat, and was already soaring through the air like a freaking Braviary! I failed to restrain my laughter as Epona released a joyous whinny of glee at overcoming the steep feat despite already doing so many times in the past.

The rough touchdown was to be expected, still I almost threw up my breakfast all over Epona's back. She might have been extremely loyal, but even she had her limits and wouldn't hesitate to kick me off. Now welcome one and all to Prof. Oak's Sanctuary, well, it's officially the Corral, but me and the other sponsored trainers from my class year like to call it the Sanctuary. Sounds more esteemed and respectful.

Poor Professor Oak was bitter by our self-imposed title for the land for weeks.

Anyways, it's just as the name implies. Every pokémon, from the flock of Pidgey flying overhead the splashing Marill playing with a group of Whoopers and Shellder, and the Arbok constricting its prey of a Rattata to a tree, fangs poised at the ready. Yep, I don't really do it justice, but there was your average mix of Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn pokémon here with Kanto and Johto being more prevalent than Hoenn.

Also, one moment.

"Kidd use Shadow Ball."

After blind-siding the environmentally displaced Arbok, I checked over the wheezing Rattata and confirmed that it's wounds were superficial and fed it a couple of nearby berries to help it regain it's energy. Have to make a quick note to remind the Professor to check up on it for any wounds internally.

"Good work, Kidd. Now I want you to carry this little troublemaker with us all the way to the professor." I smirked at the pokémon

"Gen-!? Gengar Gen!" Kidd was obviously not up for walking/running all the way there. Well too bad. Not in the mood for attitude. I don't want to hear it.

"Yes, you. Just think of this as punishment for breaking most of the fine china at home. Also, for trying to pull a fast one at Ash's school while I was busy getting ready."

"Gen!" Clicking your teeth and having a bad attitude about it will only drag this out longer, y'know. Kidd might be a bit…much, but he was at least obedient to some extent. I was already about to be in some deep shit by the type mom comes back, so it'd be best to tide me over now then later when I'm still recovering from her scolding.

"Alright then, now we're off."

And we were off, with Kidd grumbling along the way, closely following Epona and I. The tricky bastard tried to prop the unconscious Arbok on Epona's backside, and received an indignant whinny and two hooves to the face for his troubles. The Rapidash was pretty frustrated that she wanted to, and had enough on her plate without the Ghost pokémon making trouble.

Unfortunately my moment of enjoyed schadenfreude came to an end when we finally reached the backside of the lab, and coincidentally met one of two familiar face that I came to see. Right now she was currently scrubbing away at the scuffed and dirt covered impurities that graced the jeweled center of her Starmie.

Nicely done shoulder-length brown hair, wonderful legs and thighs, a pair of caring yet critical chocolate brown eyes, a cute button nose, and a smattering of freckles across said nose. If I were actually my 12 year old self from my old life, I would have fallen head over heels for the moment I met her. Thank god for miracles because then that would mean me getting pushed around and letting it happen because of awkward low self-esteem.

Yep. That girl right there is Daisy Oak. The map girl from the games and the older sister of Blue or Green if you prefer, you freaking Manga tycoons. Now in this life, she's the older sister to Gary, the first granddaughter to Professor Oak, and my long-time childhood friend.

And if we were to compare the sweetheart game/manga adaption of her to the one I've known for 8 years, I'd say that the changes were minimal in some places and obviously glaring in others.

"I've arrived, and brought your self-imposed torture, Daisy!" I lazily drawled out and held the bag up for her to see while Epona trotted up to them. Kidd already dropped the Arbok and scrammed the moment I saw Daisy, the sneaky bastard…

"About time, I was wondering when you'd-Are you wearing sweatpants!?" She sighed and paused as she finally looked up to notice me. Her eyes wide open and mouth agape in shock. "What? You want to drag your self-image to the ground even further by dressing like a bum on top of being so lackadaisical about your future circuit plans? Seriously, Luke, what made you think that walking around in your pajamas was a good idea?"

"I was lazy." I shrugged and gave her more of a migraine.

She deeply inhaled and pinched her nose's bridge. "No not a good enough reason, try again…"

"No…because I don't feel like it." I slothfully answered.

"…You know I'm really starting to miss the old you who was so wound up about the circuit a year ago." In some way I do too, Daisy, I do too. Then I realize that the undue stress of the journey and doing what I can to support and advertise mom's budding business was too much. So I don't miss all of old me that much.

"Oho? Is that Luke, I hear?" And out from the building came out the one and only Samuel Motherflipping Oak, or Prof. Oak for short.

"Hey, professor! I came over to share the majesty of my rocking threads."

"They're pajamas." Daisy, the hater, commented.

"Impressive, I'd rate them a good 8/10. Good job for skillfully picking them out, Luke." Prof. Oak grinned and gave me a thumbs up, which I happily returned.

"Well, you know. I did learn from the best."

"They're just pajamas."

"Hm…" The professor rubbed his chin in deep thought. "Seeing you now, I suddenly feel the urge to get comfy myself. Maybe even have some of the staff do a last-minute pajama day. What do you think, Luke?"

"I'd think, why haven't you done it yet, Professor. Because that sounds like the best idea I've ever heard."

"You two are just fucking with me now, aren't you?" Daisy was just about with our shit.

"Ah, language young lady!" Prof. Oak scolded his granddaughter.

It was ineffective.

"You know what…sure lets just have Pallet Town's Golden Boy strut his stuff in nothing but his jam-jams around town. See if I care…I'm too tired to deal with you two. C'mon, Mimi, let's see what the Meowth dragged in."

Ignoring us, Daisy responsibly stalked over with her Starmie to observe the unconscious Arbok while Professor Oak and I shared ourselves a rather good laugh and a rather juvenile high-five.

You know, maybe waking up and coming up here wasn't such a bad idea after all.