Gengar charges forward glowing eerily with power. Nidorino narrowly dodges the Double Edge. His horn glows with a sickly purple color as he replies with a Poison Sting. The move narrowly misses the grinning ghost. Both pokemon reposition gaining distance.

Gengar goes for a Hypnosis from midrange. His eyes glow crimson as glowing concentric circles spread out from his position and make contact with the Nidorino putting it to sleep. Nidorino is fast asleep, will Gengar go for the Dream Eater? A super effective hit on the Poison type could finish this battle.

The soft chime of an alarm interrupts the battle. With a sigh I paused the simulation, turned off my music and started packing up.

"Hey, Gray! I heard that sigh." My roommate Lonnie speaks up from where he lays messing around with his switch. His side of our shared room was covered with classic rock posters. "The ai screw up again? Time to go back to the drawing board?"

"No," I said as I shook my head. Slipping my laptop into my backpack, I continued as I got ready. "The ai was starting to string moves together in a way that makes sense with the most recent range changes I implemented."

"Then the issue?" Lonnie asked, finally looking up from his switch.

I paused while tying my shoes. "The issue is it was just getting good. I might even be able to move onto full teams soon and maybe pull off that tourney idea I had. But now, I have twenty minutes before Calc and I have to get halfway across campus."

Lonnie winced and then nodded in understanding. Our dorm was the farthest from the math building and we were on the seventh floor. It was a long wait for the elevator and taking the stairs… well it was a pain.

"Welp you know what they say. Time waits for no man. It's definitely not gonna wait for the murder pet and kaiju battle to finish."

I held back a groan. This had been an ongoing argument between us since we met last year and found we both enjoyed pokemon. The argument was well tread ground at this point.

"They aren't murder pets."

Lonnie charged forward like always. "They are. Games and anime might have it all be non-lethal, but if pokemon were real shit would get murderized all the time. Like, Scyther has blades for arms and Beedrill has those gnarly lance arms. That shit is definitely not non-lethal."

I had to admit he had a point. Wild pokemon had to eat something and … well there was that infamous panel from the manga with the Arbok getting cut in half. However, he had yet to fully convince me. If pokemon were as he put it "murder pets" then it'd be very hard to train them for any long period of time. Death or injury could or would force an end to their careers. Kind of hard to make a team if the members of that team kept dying or being maimed.

In my mind there had to be some sort of middle ground between deathworld and Saturday morning cartoons. If the healing really was as good as it was portrayed in the games, then that along with the seemingly magical nature of berries might allow a world like that of pokemon to function somewhat coherently.

Or maybe the aura of the pokemon world acted similar to the aura from RWBY, acting as a sort of shield that prevented serious injury until it was depleted. That would be yet another effect to add to the kitchen sink of effects pokemon aura already had. There was… I didn't have time for this. Instead of going down this rabbit hole again I tried to distract him, "Always with the bug types."

"Mono-Bug for life." Lonnie proudly declared. "They're so much better than other types like … Normal."

"Just wait Lonnie, I have something real special for our next league match." I promised.

The two of us had helped set up a pokemon league in freshman year. Members interested in serving as gym leaders and elite four had drawn lots for pick order on types. Lonnie got second pick. Instead of choosing Steel or Flying or any of the other types still open, he chose Bug. I got the last pick and was left with the Normal type. Both of us had done well enough in the following tourney to take gym leader spots. Lonnie had even gotten his hands on a button press so we could give out badges. We had finished the year as the fifth and sixth gyms. I was fifth and Lonnie didn't let me forget it. This year we had both decided to stick with our chosen types.

"Anyway, why do you always seem to use the same battle?" Lonnie questioned.

Could it be? An actual decent question from Lonnie.

"Because I need a baseline, a kind of default battle to test out changes I make to the simulator." I explained while slipping on a jean jacket. I needed to get moving or I would be late for class.

Lonnie cocked his head to the side seemingly deep in thought, "Kay, why Nidorino and Gengar? Doesn't Nidorino suck?"

I nodded in agreement. If we were talking about Nidoking it would be another story.

"Nidorino does suck. Most of its natural moveset can't even hit Gengar and its poison type moves are resisted. However, it's really simple, you don't mess with a classic."

Lonnie snorted "How the hell is that beatdown a classic?"

I paused at the door and looked at Lonnie in confusion. He had to know this battle. "It's one of the most famous matchups in pokemon. It's also the first pokemon battle most people ever see. It's been recreated in anime and games over and over again."

"And?"

I sighed. I just couldn't help myself sometimes. "Well, there's also some history to the battle. If you look into the matchup there's some debate on who the trainers are. Most people seem to agree that the Gengar's trainer is Agatha. For the …"

"Agatha, that creepy ghost lady?"

"Yes, the creepy ghost lady of the Elite Four. As I was saying, for the Nidorino it's sometimes debated. In the anime it looks like Bruno was the trainer."

Lonnie nodded in recognition at the name. "The badass punching dude?"

"Yeah, the… punching dude. It's weird for him to have a poison type, but he did have two Onix for some god forsaken reason."

"Simple, the dude lifts." Lonnie joked.

That was sadly a pretty decent explanation, given the world and person we were talking about. Bruno really liked Onix for some reason, he always had an Onix or a Steelix on his team in the games. It could be explained away in Gen One with the limited pool of fighting types but even in his later appearances in the various remakes he had them.

"Anyway the better answer is that it's Professor Oak who is Nidorino's trainer. When you start up the game he introduces himself and then the first pokemon he shows you is a Nidorino. Oak's partner in one of the spinoff games? Nidorino. Anime Gary had Nidoking and Queen on his team, so that's another possible connection. There's also.."

"Ah I see. He hooked his grandson up. You know Oak shelled out the dough for some moonstones."

That did sound plausible. Anime Gary seemed to have fuck you money. Oak hooking up his grandson with a pokemon line he was very familiar with and their evolution items wasn't a stretch. "Sure Lonnie. As I was saying, Agatha and Oak have history together. They were long term rivals, and Agatha comes across as a little tsun for Oak."

"Man, I like pokemon but that doesn't mean I speak weeb."

"Let's just say it's a bit surprising that Gary isn't calling Agatha Granny."

Lonnie hummed in thought. "Guess Oak knew better than to stick his dick in creepy ghost lady. Dude is a professor, after all."

I rubbed my forehead trying to ward off the beginning of yet another in a long line of Lonnie induced headaches. Better to just get it over with. "The fight has a certain weight and history to it. Oak in the manga had won the championship a few times before he hung it up to work on the pokedex. Agatha would go on to be E4, for who knows how long. They were both great trainers and rivals to each other. It's like the beginning of an epic battle we never get to see the end of."

Lonnie nodded in understanding, "Sounds cool, why don't we get to see it?"

I shrugged, "We just don't. There's so much we never get to see. The games have a lot of gaps in them and that's not even getting into the anime. This fight is like a little glimpse into those gaps. It's like those crazy theories you keep coming up with to try and fill in the gaps. I still don't think AZ is one of the heroes of Unova."

"Hey! Don't diss that one, that's a good one. Just look at the dude's hair. You know he was rocking around with Reshiram back in the day. Anime hair don't lie, and that's not even getting into the Chi Rho."

"I thought you said you weren't a weeb." That got a glare from him. "Putting your crazy theories aside. Gengar vs. Nidorino is a little battle at the beginning of the game that teases a larger world we don't get to see."

"But it's not at the start of the game?" Lonnie asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"You played Gen One right?"

Lonnie nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I beat it. Filled up the dex and became the champ."

"So when you turn on the game first thing after the gamefreak logo is Gengar versus Nido right?"

Lonnie shook his head in denial, and then spoke with authority, "Nah man it's Gengar vs Jigglypuff."

I groaned, "You played Blue version, you bastard. Dammit Lonnie. You do this shit on purpose."

Lonnie grinned widely, "Of course I do, I have to give you some shit. Especially with your little quest for the 'most realistic pokemon battles' possible. You're a major nerd at times man. Like removing the four move limit was cool, but the evasion and range changes are ass. You got any other changes lined up?"

He had a point on the nerd front. It had started off simply, just some musings on what a real battle might be like based off of the anime. Some further musings on what logically made sense and next thing I knew I ended up with some little tweaks to an open source battle simulator. Just a little hobby to kill some time in between classes. The changes were simple to start, but once started I just couldn't seem to stop. I shudder at the memory of adding in a crude range system. That had been a complete bitch to pull off. The ai still hadn't gotten used to the changes. It still showed a preference to go after higher damaging moves over more accurate or status moves.

"Not really, mostly fiddling with numbers. I've pushed it pretty much as far as I can go. Unless I figure out how to pull off a real time battle system that also needs hundreds of moves that could interact with each other, this is the closest to a real battle that I think we can reasonably get."

Lonnie nods in understanding a far off look in his eyes, "Damn man. You know I'd give my left nut to have a real pokemon battle. Shit would be so cool."

"I know man, it would be." I paused. Did I really want to ask? My curiosity eventually got the better of me. "Why the left nut?"

Lonnie's hand went to his chin. He seemed to sink into deep contemplation but finally he answered as if he had reached some great enlightenment, "Because if it was the right nut I would never feel right ever again. Also, don't you have class?"

"Fuu…." I bit back a curse as I rushed out of our room and down the hall. Lonnie's laughter followed me.

Reaching the elevator I slammed on the call button. Checking the floor indicator showed the elevator still on the first floor. A quick look at my watch showed I had twelve minutes before class started. Stairs it was then. I might be able to make it if I ran. Running to the stairwell I opened the door and at the top of the stairs my world went sideways.

I slipped.

As the floor rose up to meet me I reflexively closed my eyes.

When I landed it wasn't the cold hard tile of the stairwell or the hard edges of the stairs but earth. After landing I began to roll uncontrollably downhill. My arms flew out from my sides trying to stop the roll. Tree roots, stones, and the contents of my backpack drove into me with every rotation. Eventually I hit a tree and the breath was knocked out of me. A few moments passed in near silence except for what sounded like the distant cawing of crows. Face down in the grass and tree roots I caught my breath until finally I shakily sat up.

"What the fuck?"

I winced as my hands went to my ribs. The pain ... was bad, a constant ache that wouldn't go away. I didn't think anything was broken though. Leaning back against the tree I looked up in the direction I came from. It was a mostly grassy hill, though it sure felt like I had found every damn rock and root it had. The contents of my backpack and one of my shoes were scattered across it. Interspersed across the hill were large trees providing shade from the sun still high in the sky. I idly noted that the trees were elm.

Minutes passed as I tried to gather myself. I had no idea where I was or how exactly I had gotten there. I was about to take a nasty fall and then… I was elsewhere. My body aches in protest when I rise. My jaw clenches shut from the pain. Okay, make that I took a nasty fall and I'm elsewhere.

One hand goes out to steady myself on the tree that stopped my roll. The weight of my backpack settles on my shoulders and I'm reminded of my belongings scattered about. I grimaced in dread as to the condition of my laptop. I could see it sitting further up the hill. There were a lot of hours of summer jobs sunk into that thing. I just hoped some of it was salvageable.

Standing I was able to take in more of my surroundings. I was halfway up the hill, farther down the trees thinned out as it approached a very rocky stream… I patted the tree that had stopped my roll.

"Thanks, I guess." I muttered.

The hill was one of the more open spaces on this side of the stream. More heavily wooded hills seemed to stretch out on either side of it. Across the stream the trees thinned out, replaced by tall grass near the stream that gently moved in the wind. Movement caught my eye, some birds flew high overhead. They were rather large even at this distance, maybe red-tailed hawks? They weren't dark enough to be turkey vultures. A twinge of pain from my bruised body took me out of my contemplation on the local birds. I needed to focus. I didn't have time for bird viewing. I didn't even know where the hell I was.

My eyes went back to the other side of the stream looking for any signs of people or civilization. I failed to find any. Turning away I slowly gathered my scattered belongings. When I got to my shoe I silently cursed.

It was untied.

My shoe reclaimed and tied this time I gathered the rest of my stuff, a few notebooks, some loose pens, a laptop charger, a water bottle, and my battered laptop. The screen on the laptop was cracked and barely attached to the rest of it. I'd need a replacement if the rest of the parts were still okay, which was unlikely. Maybe the hard drive and some other parts would be salvageable? Shit for later, I had to get out of these woods. After a quick swig of water, it all went into my backpack. I checked my pockets and came up with nothing but my keys. No phone and no wallet, I had been in such a rush that I had left without them.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

I turned back towards the stream and slowly started making my way downhill. I needed to find some civilization. Humans no matter where they're from are well... human. We liked the same things, access to water, a place to grow food, access to resources, and a place to be out of the wind. So I was headed to the little floodplain with the tall grass on the other side of the stream and from there further downstream. If I just followed the water I should run into something or someone right?

I paused in my descent to inspect a tree. Deep cuts crisscrossed the bark at chest level. It didn't seem like a bear had done it, the markings were all wrong for that. It was almost like someone had taken a machete or a pair of them to it. The cuts formed an X shape on the trunk. Maybe some sort of trail marker. Perhaps I was closer to civilization than I thought. I didn't see anymore during my descent to the stream.

After a careful crossing of the stream which soaked my shoes with water, I was on the other side. I avoided the tall grass for now, ticks were the last thing I needed.

"Ka, Ka, Ka."

The sound of the crows was closer. It sounded strange and a bit distorted. After a few minutes they stopped as I walked along the bank of the stream. The ground started to get wetter, the earth gripping onto my shoes as if it didn't want to let go. I started eyeing the tall grass. It was only waist high and someone would let me borrow their shower once I found civilization, right? It would be better than the marshy conditions this was turning into. I turned towards the tall grass keeping the stream in sight.

Five minutes later I spotted the grass in front of me moving oddly. It wasn't the gentle movement of the wind but a sort of shaking to it probably caused by some critter. I turned towards the treeline keeping an eye on the movement. I had no reason to disturb it going for a drink, it was probably a groundhog. Making my way towards the trees the movement followed me.

Odd. It wasn't a wild dog or something right? The movement in the grass was too small.

The movement sped up getting between me and the trees, the grass rustled with its passing. A gleaming white spike was the first part I saw of it. Beneath the horn were two creepy black eyes and a pink mouth with mandibles that seemed designed to tear flesh. It reared up on its grotesque body, its nubbly little legs grasping at the air, it let out a cry of "Weeee!"

I kicked it.

The horrific creature went flying end over end before impacting the trunk of a nearby tree. A muffled "...dle." followed the impact.

The sound of the crows started again, this time closer than ever. "KA, KA, Kakuna!"

Those weren't crows... those were pokemon.

The tree started shaking and then they descended from its branches as one. Hanging on strands of silk, a dozen yellow cocoons two feet tall with black triangular insectoid eyes started at me. If Kakuna could learn Mean Look, they would be masters of the move.

A soft glow was my only warning as I turned and ran. Glowing white darts followed in my wake. Poison Sting? I headed for the trees further downstream, if I could break line of sight I might be okay. It's not like Kakuna were very mobile.

I felt faint impacts on my back as I ran. I could only hope that my jacket and backpack had served as enough protection... Reaching the treeline I was finally able to break line of sight and had thick trees between me and the pissed off Kakuna. Leaning on a tree I tried to catch my breath. The adrenaline was pumping and my bruised body ached after the short run.

What did you even call a group of them? A hive of Kakuna? A cabal of Kakuna?

That's when the buzzing started.

A group of Beedrill is a swarm, my brain helpfully supplied.

I ran.

I passed a variety of pokemon during my flight through the woods. A Caterpie, a Rattata, even a sleeping Hoothoot, they all gave me brief looks of confusion as I ran by my body aching in protest. My soaked shoes did me no favors as I struggled to retain my footing as I ran. If I fell...

Behind me was buzzing and the sound of broken branches. The urge to look back grew. It's one of the worst things you can do while running. However, the urge just kept growing. How far away was my buggy death? How far away were those gnarly lance arms? Maybe Lonnie was right and they were murder pets after all.

Eventually I reached a clearing startling a Linoone that went zipping away. Once I reached the other side of the clearing I chanced a look back. Very good news, it wasn't a swarm after all. Bad news, it was still a very angry Beedrill. I stopped. I couldn't outrun it. I was slowing, my body had been pushed hard after the beating it had taken on that hill.

The Beedrill eyed me from across the clearing. It struck it's arm lances against each other causing some sparks to form as the lances shone. It almost growled out it's name. "Beeedrill..."

I unslung my backpack, gripping its handle. "Fuck bees."

It charged flying across the clearing leading with one of its arm lances. The lance glowing with a white light. I brought the backpack up in a swing. It was torn from my hands as the Beedrill's lance made contact with the laptop inside punching through it and missing me. After flying past it turned to face me again flying lopsided. The laptop and bag were stuck on its right arm lance unbalancing it. Buzzing angrily, the Beedrill shook its arm free of the bag. With a dull thump it hit the ground as it got ready for another run

This was it, wasn't it? Here lies Damien Grayson, cause of death: pokemon.

The Beedrill struck its arm lances again causing sparks to fly as they shone. I guess that was Harden. Using it as some sort of knockoff swords dance? Or did the increased hardness just keep the lances from breaking? It let out a cry "Bee...drill!" and charged.

It's cry was answered. "GON!"

Out of the remains of my backpack a pink and blue mess of geometric shapes charged out. Hitting the Beedrill with a Tackle that sent it off course. A Porygon. Glaring at the Beedrill, Porygon floated protectively in front of me. Where it came from was a question for later. Beating this fucking bug was the priority.

"Tri-attack?" my voice was shaky as I gave out a command.

Porygon let out a confused sounding "Pory?"

I grimaced. Too much to hope for. Porygon didn't get his best move until pretty late in most of the games. That was okay. I knew Porygon, at least the game version. Porygon2 was a key member of many a team. He should at least know the signature moves of the line.

Beedrill eyed Porygon cautiously as it pulled the Harden trick again.

"Conversion 2, then Sharpen." My confidence was growing. I had a Porygon.

Porygon's legs spun around in circles as its eyes took on a metallic gray color as he changed types. Conversion 2 changed Porygon's type to a type that resisted or was immune to the last attack used. Steel type? The last move from Beedrill was a Poison Sting then.

The Beedrill charged Porygon leading with both arm lances shining.

Looked like another Poison Sting incoming from the bug. Beedrill would be in for a nasty surprise. Steel was immune to poison.

Porygon's body gleamed resembling a polished blade as it used Sharpen. The move raised Porygon's attack in the games but how that translated to reality I wasn't quite sure.

"Tackle it when you can and don't stop."

Porygon gave a slight nod, as the Beedrill closed the distance. The hardened arm lances aiming for Porygon's head.

I shouldn't worry, he could take this hit just fine. Right?

Just before contact, Porygon removed its head from its own body, its legs following not far behind. The Beedrill paused in confusion as its movement was stopped midair by Porygon's body and its lances struck the space where his head used to be. That pause proved costly as Porygon let out a cry of "Reeeeee!" and his floating body parts began to pummel the bug from different angles.

It... well it wasn't much of a fight after that. Porygon would reform and then dismember(?) itself to dodge Beedrill's attacks. The few that landed seemed to do nothing as Porygon continued to beat the daylights out of the bug. After a particularly brutal Tackle from four different directions the Beedrill dropped from the air and didn't rise.

Porygon reformed and joined me. He gave out a shout of "Pory!" proclaiming his victory over bug kind.

"Mono-Normal for life." I muttered looking at the downed giant bee. It didn't seem dead but it had seen better days. The lances were in fine condition but its wings were in rough shape. Shaking my head I turned and petted the digital duck. He felt like warm plastic.

He leaned into it, a soft "Reee." escaping him.

That battle, well that had been impressive. Being able to separate his body was something you saw in the games but never to the extent he had shown. As for the anime? Well, Porygon didn't get screen time in the anime. After his premier episode caused a bunch of seizures the duck had been blacklisted.

"You did nothing wrong. Pikachu was the one who blew up those rockets."

"Gon?" he questioned.

"Don't worry about it. You know you're a good battler aren't you?"

He nodded in agreement, his tail wagging a little.

I walked over to my backpack, as he hovered beside me. Porygon was an artificial pokemon, one of the few modern ones in the pokemon world anyway. The ancient ones all seemed to be created some three thousand years ago and then nothing, I blame Kalos.

Porygon had been designed for space exploration, at least that's what some of the dex entries claimed. He didn't need to eat or breathe and probably didn't even need to sleep. He did seem to treat gravity as somewhat of a suggestion as he slowly orbited around me seeming to be on the lookout. One of his more interesting features was that he was made out of code. He could enter and exit cyberspace seemingly at will.

Could a Porygon take over computer systems like a Rotom possessing an appliance?

A question for later, there was something I wanted the answer to now. There were huge rips in the bag from Beedrill's attack and subsequent shaking to get it off. A few needles from the Kakuna were stuck in it as well. The straps were in one piece. My laptop had a large hole straight through it from the lance. My notebooks were trashed, the water bottle was fine and I took a long drink as I considered what I didn't find.

There hadn't been a pokeball.

"Porygon. You came out of the laptop didn't you?"

His head turned 180 degrees to look at me and nodded.

Was he trying to keep his body facing possible danger? I shook my head and tried to focus. He came out of my laptop and he's a pokemon made out of code. Silph Co. one of the mega-corps of the pokemon world was at least partly responsible for his creation if I remembered correctly. They also produced the Upgrade, the evolution item necessary for his first evolution. Some dex entries even said his code was copyrighted. I chuckled "You wouldn't download a car, you wouldn't download a mon..."

If this was the world of pokemon which it seemed like, then how did he get on my computer? I was in the middle of the woods. If he didn't get on my laptop through some sort of outside connection then he had to have been on it when I fell. Artificial pokemon made out of code... I looked at the floating digital duck as I considered. An ai? The battle simulator, the ai I was training up on it?

"Porygon, do you remember Gengar vs. Nidorino?"

He replied with a bored sounding "Gon Gon."

That sounded like agreement to me. A battle bot became a Porygon. Who was I to question it? I've seemed to have fallen through into another world. Putting our origins aside I was still in the middle of the woods and I did not want to be here during the night. Putting the backpack back on, I started to walk and then paused. My desperate run and subsequent fight with the Beedrill had taken me far from the stream and a realization struck me.

"I'm lost."

"Gon?"

"We're lost." I corrected "Well more lost than we were before. Do you think you could ask the next pokemon we see for directions? We need to find some people."

He nodded and we were on our way. He would zip between the branches as we walked, his legs rotating in circles as if it would make him go faster by paddling the air. Sometimes he would fly sideways or upside down. Other times he would start zooming at a branch, his head or a leg about to hit it and he would detach the body part to avoid the collision.

In time we came across a Metapod nestled in some branches. He Hardened as we approached but let out a lethargic "Pod." after we greeted it. After a brief conversation a Butterfree was called in by Metapod. I'll admit I find bug pokemon creepy. The thing about real pokemon is that they aren't animated. Butterfree had large red compound eyes that reminded me of a fly, on a vaguely anthropomorphic body. The wings and its I’ll admit cute little gestures with its hands as it spoke helped with some of the unsettling parts of its appearance.

I got the feeling they were a little suspicious of Porygon and myself. He was manmade and probably rarely seen outside of a laboratory setting. He's probably the only Porygon they would ever see and I had clearly been attacked in some fashion. I got the feeling that they thought I might have deserved it. The Weedle I kicked may or may not have deserved it, the Beedrill did. Eventually between the two of us we were able to get Butterfree to guide us. With a cry of "Free!" and glowing motes of shining powder the Butterfree led the way.

During the next half hour of our trek I started to feel woozy. I tried to dismiss it. It was just the pain from the bruises mixed with exertion. Once we found people everything would be okay. My pace started to slow. Fifteen minutes later Porygon noticed and called over the Butterfree. It took a look at my back and then flew off ahead. Five minutes later we came across a road. Porygon nudged me to the left when I was about to walk right across it.

I had to keep walking... What was the song? You put one foot in front of the other... There was a person. An old man in a suit. He had an impressive mustache and a nice bowtie. Butterfree floated behind him. He said something I didn't catch then fiddled with something at his belt. In a flash of light there was a... Slowbro? They had a goofy smile. I smiled. They were a little silly looking in real life. Their skin looked soft like a salamanders. I tried to kneel down to pet it but ended up falling and ending up in a sitting position. The man said something again but I had a Slowbro to pet. The Slowbro came closer, their face close to mine. Then it yawned and I got sleepy...