Pokemon: New Life

Dragging his tired body, he could tell something was off as soon as he opened the door to his home. As an orphan, everything of value at home had been sold for money, leaving him with only the bare essentials.

At this moment, he noticed that the small coffee table in the living room had been moved, prompting him to draw his folding knife. Having spent two years here, he already knew how to use weapons to protect himself.

His name was Victor Creel, or Vic for short. He attended an average college and majored in journalism, which wasn't very popular. For the most part, his life was reasonably trouble-free; he was able to make a living, travel around the world, and generally enjoy himself. As it was, he couldn't be more happy with his life.

Sadly, while he was travelling in Southeast Asia, the ship he was on was raided by a band of pirates. During the ensuing scuffle, he suddenly felt a stab of pain in his chest and his vision began to blur. He had been shot in the chest, he realised.

When he woke up later, he felt sore all over, his brain swelled, and random, strange memories began to pop into his mind. After being in this state for several hours, he finally regained control of his body and came to terms with what had occurred to him.

That was a really bad day for him. First he took a bullet to the chest and then he became a transmigrator? It was just too much to take. And judging from the memories inside his head, things weren't looking well for him.

The world he had arrived at was very similar to an anime he had seen in his previous life. The characters and setting looked the same as he remembered, with a few slight differences.

Creatures with extraordinary magical abilities inhabit this world. They were known as Pokemon. While some of them got along well with humans, others didn't. Even though human technology had come a long way, it was still no match for the might possessed by Pokemon.

In order to survive and develop, human beings had learnt how to tame some of them into their own partners. Trainers, coordinators, and similar professions emerged as a direct result of this.

After realising he was in the Pokemon world, Vic always had a nagging sense of insecurity. He yearned for the power to protect himself. And Pokemon was the only viable option for him. Alas, even after selling everything in his house, he still couldn't raise enough money to buy one.

Knife in hand, he took a cautious step inside his home and looked around. Suddenly, his eyes caught something moving behind the coffee table. There was no doubt that it was a Pokemon. At the same time, his entire body was screaming at him to leave.

He was aware of how dangerous it was for someone to approach a Pokemon without owning one. Heck, just a single swing from a Magikarp's tail was enough to knock someone out cold.

However, deep down, he felt that this was an opportunity, an opportunity to change his destiny.

One cautious step at a time, he made his way to the table. Despite feeling nervous, his right hand that was holding the knife did not shake. His two years of self-defence training had paid off it seemed.

As he got closer, the creature that had been hiding behind the table finally came out from hiding.

"Zorua!" Vic yelled out in surprise at the sight of the grey fox creature with a tuft of red fur on its head.

Even though he had only seen a few episodes of the Pokemon anime in his last life, he nonetheless remembered every single Pokemon and amongst them, Zoroark from the movie stood out the most.

And the Pokemon that appeared in front of Vic at this moment was none other than Zorua, the pre-evolved form of Zoroark. Only this Zorua had a few bloody patches and several scars all over its body. It was hard to imagine how this Pokemon managed to persist until now with that kind of injury.

Although Zorua was growling at Vic at the time, its trembling limbs made it difficult for Vic to tell whether it was all an act or it was simply in pain.

Faced with Zorua's warning, Vic acted cautiously. After all, it was a Pokemon. It only needed a single move to kill him.

"Relax, little guy. I'm not trying to hurt you." In order to prove what he said, Vic raised his hands and quietly put away the dagger. This at least would make Zorua less wary of him, hopefully.

The Pokemon's intellect was on par with humans, so Vic's actions somewhat made Zorua relax a bit, but he still kept his eyes on Vic.

Vic understood he couldn't be hasty now even though he really wanted to capture this Pokemon. Anyway, Zorua looked very weak. He believed Zorua couldn't maintain this position for long.

Time passed by, one person and one Pokemon stood there, staring at one another. After nearly an hour of confrontation, the weak and injured Zorua finally couldn't hold it any longer and fell down.

After confirming that Zorua had fainted, Vic took out the medical kit from under the bed and began to treat Zorua. He didn't know how long this Zorua had been injured, he knew that the treatment couldn't be delayed any longer.

If the world was as innocent as in the anime, Vic would definitely go to the Pokemon Center for treatment. But the cruel reality told Vic that the Pokemon Center would not provide free treatment to any people. High-quality service meant high costs. Even those trainers sponsored by a Pokemon Professor could only get a good discount, much less a nobody like him.

"I hope you don't get mad at me. I'm doing this to save you." Holding a razor, Vic shaved off the lumps of blood-covered fur on Zorua's body as quickly as possible while trying his best to avoid the wounds.

For more than two years, Vic lived a frugal lifestyle, but he still spent some money to learn a few things about Pokemon. After reading a lot of books in the library and attending the night classes, he had a good understanding of emergency first aid.

When he was done cleaning and bandaging all wounds on Zorua's body, Vic finally sat down. Looking at the sleeping figure of Zorua, he resisted his sleepiness and grabbed a pair of scissors to start trimming the only remaining fur on Zorua's body to improve its very unsightly image.

Since Vic wanted this guy to be his Pokemon, he knew he had to make a good impression on him.

Vic, who was already exhausted, did his best to groom Zorua until he finally couldn't do it any longer and passed out on the bed.

Early the next morning, Vic woke up from sleep thanks to the biological clock he had developed over a long period of time. He sat up on bed and turned to the spot where Zorua had been placed the day before.

Zorua was a wild Pokemon after all. Who knew if he would fire a Dark Pulse to express his gratitude after recovering his injury. Vic had been there once in his past life and didn't wish to experience it again.

Thankfully, Zorua was still sleeping soundly at this moment. His breathing looked normal. It seemed he was on the way to full recovery.