Start Game 1.5
July 17th, 2022.
“Say hello to Tohoku’s own champion! The one, the only Yui Oshima!” The announcer’s voice rang as the local champion appeared on the scene. She was a woman of about average height, but her presence was huge. She had pale skin and a stout frame, thick wavy black hair, deep-set blue eyes flickering across the field. She wore a billowing robe that clung to her curvy frame, and walked with a conviction I lacked.
Yui Oshima was the Champion of the Tohoku region and a powerful one at that. She’s fought and beaten Lance Wataru and fought insane battles against Cynthia that could devastate battlefields, and rumors about their private battles mentioned altering landscapes.
She had a star team, something I could see from the recording of an old match. She had brought out her empoleon Badtz Maru. He wasn't her Starter, that honor went to her nidoqueen. He was a Luminous Empoleon, huge sea birds that ruled over the glacier palaces of the arctic, crowned as rulers of their domain. Prideful dictators shrouded in auroras that stall Fire moves and enhance Ice attacks.
He dwarfed his trainer, and I gasped when I saw him unleash Blizzard, the storm of ice twisting and writhing like a living thing as it formed a defensive wall. He was a prime example of why people called them the Master of the Waves.
I moved to other videos, one demonstrating her sylveon using Wish, a bloodthirsty grin on her face as her ribbons clasped tightly onto the neck of a dragonite. Sylveon are predators to dragons and keeping hers from eating them was a testament as a trainer. I skipped forward to her aerodactyl, the living fossil flapping its sharp stony wing as he bombarded a rampaging gyarados with Stone Edge, pillars of sharpened elemental rock shooting out from the ground like missiles.
Badtz Maru the Empoleon, Glaistig Uaine the Sylveon, Ropen the Aerodactyl, Kaguya the Nidoqueen. That left Cell the Reuniclus, and her most dangerous pokémon, Fafnir the Hydreigon. One who had gone through the Berserker ritual, and had all limits removed. Hydreigon had access to the Berserker gene, causing it to produce extremely potent forms of adrenaline and testosterone, a feedback loop with metaphysical processes that boosts all their stats and allows them to grow to greater size and power.
At their smallest, they were as large and heavy as metagross, with some elders recorded at twenty feet tall and rivaling Legendaries in power and rage. Most trained hydreigon went through a ritual to suppress and dampen their power, purposely damaging their endocrine system but protecting them from the Berserker Rage.Years ago, when Nihoh was on the brink of a pointless war she destroyed entire teams of Elite 4-class trainers and tore a private military carrier in half with just her Hydreigon’s Dragon Storm, an enhanced form of Draco Meteor.
A Champion-level team in this world was equal to nukes back home, a Champion could reshape landscapes and demolish cities. It was a level of power that couldn't be matched in my world. A one-man… or more accurately one commander and supersoldier army.
Nihoh had been brought under the aegis of Kanto with the power of pokémon and their Champions. Kanto was the heartland of what had once been a mighty empire; it had conquered Johto years ago and brought Hoenn into its alliance of states through diplomacy and threats. The Unified Regions of Nihoh were closer to the thirteen colonies when it came to politics.
They had fought wars against other regions, from Risland, the confederation of states dominated by Unova to the mainland regions of Joseon and Pangu. Korea and China respectively. They had their native species, but communication between regions was sparse due to a combination of the dangers between regions and isolationism. It was only with the creation of the Pokédex in the 90s that regions began to reconnect again.
A paw tugged at my pants, and I flushed when I realized I had been standing in the middle of a lane for a couple of minutes. Mirko had snapped me of my funk, and I glanced over at the meat aisle of a grocery store. Cuts of different meats were sourced from Domestic breeds which were wildly different from Wilds. Though even at their dullest they were smarter than average, this was a world where most megafauna started at two-year-old and topped out at supercomputer.
It was specifically Charolais beef I was glancing at, a Domestic breed of Tauros-Miltank native to Kalos. Micromon had been a rather narrow word, applying mostly to microfaunal species, as big as regular rats at most. ‘Domestic’ pokémon were easy to tell apart, they were smaller and dimmer, lacking a certain presence of mind. They weren't fit for battling, and the closest comparison I had was…
World of Darkness, Werewolf. the Umbra where spirits roam. There was a vast hierarchy of spirit entities, from mere animalistic sparks of power to actual gods. Micromon and ‘domestics’ were the lowest tiers, while Wilds and Ferals were imbued with intelligence and power, but humans were something different from either.
The only thing I can say about that is that pokémon are delicious, and I wasn't sure whether or not I regretted it. More seriously factory farming didn't exist as we knew it, every pokémon was raised with dignity, respect, and honor. It was simply the way of this world.
“I'll get you some carrots as a treat…” I muttered absently and Mirko’s cry became elated.
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Dust kicked up whenever Mirko sprinted, and I marked it down in a digital notebook, which had the texture of paper through holograms. The sensors on my phone were convenient for measuring speed.
“Mirko has been clocked at an average speed of twenty seven point five meters a second or ninety-nine kilometers per hour. This is considered a typical speed for an unevolved pokémon at her current experience level.” For a pokémon of her species, I mean, a slowpoke is nowhere as fast. “Weights of between one hundred and two hundred kilograms are within her ability to move and damage.” Not destroy … but leaving cracks in solid rock was impressive for someone less than a tenth of my body weight. “Quick Attack acts similar to a rocket engine, allowing near-instant acceleration to velocities exceeding forty-five meters a second.”
Moves like Quick Attack, Aqua Jet, and Extreme Speed were all aura-based rockets. A huge speed boost that comes at the cost of stamina and acceleration issues without training or appropriate items. Reading had been a bounty of information about pokémon and vital statistics about them as living beings.
Pokémon were on average several times faster than their equivalent animal counterparts, and non-animal pokémon could keep up with them of course. Baseline humans were faster too, aura was a hell of a drug from what Laven had told me.
I was writing down every observation I could, and spoke up. “Mirko? Can you use Drain Punch on that tree?” I pointed to a small one, and she turned on her heels as her paws glowed with green energy. The tree shuddered under the force, withering very slightly as aura was pulled from the tree.
Draining moves worked by stealing vitality from living things, though Drain Punch had a design built to pull from the aura of a combatant. It couldn't drain a living thing dry like Absorb or Leech Life. It had to tap the active reserves of aura used during battle to be effective. It could work off inactive aura but it was an order of magnitude weaker.
I had gotten any equipment I could for training, reinforced toys, targets, and using local terrain and lab equipment while we were here.
There was a loud thump, and Mirko stopped her running with a panting cry. Ears perking up in the direction of the noise.
“You want to check it out?” Mirko nodded, an eyebrow raised. The bunny monster moved before I did, and I followed after her in a haphazard sprint. The sounds became louder, and we stepped into another of Laven’s fields.
I blinked.
It was Akari and her tepig, and I paused when I saw her dodge a Tackle with an easy turn of her heels. Her red skirt rustled with the careful and elegant dance she was displaying. She’s wearing shorts I see.
She was practically a blur, moving far faster than any human being should. It was an endless waltz of dodging, leaping, and rolling. Happy chased her with zeal, not as fast as Mirko but certainly too fast for a human to avoid…
On my Earth.
Akari wore a savage grin, gently flipping her pokémon over whenever he made a hit, bleeding the momentum of his attack. Not that it would kill her, an average human could take a couple of hits from a pokémon. Hell, I had taken a wallop from Mirko and walked it off. No bruises.
Young first stage pokémon were strong enough to hurt people but not enough to kill barring special abilities. So a person isn't going to be wary of magikarp or caterpie but will keep some distance from a beedrill or quilava. Second and third stage pokémon or the stronger first stage pokémon are the ones to worry about the most.
Akari was still crazy as fuck for willingly going toe to toe with a pokémon though.
“Akari?” I asked, and the girl acknowledged me with a grunt. “How are you doing that?” Most people couldn’t fight with pokémon, they were too physically weak to deal with them. It didn’t help that most of their technology that dealt with aura was extremely esoteric and not fully understood by most people outside of scientists and literal wizards.
All the things I had learned about aura I had learned from Laven, a specialist dedicated to studying the energy of pokémon, from the energy given off by Evolution, the z-energy of Alola, the exotic photon emissions of the Illumina phenomenon, the phase transitions of Galar particles and her theories of Infinity Energy.
Aura was poorly understood and heavily restricted, and their aura channeling was largely incidental, or for machinery classified or put under lock and key. Capture devices just worked and that was it, certain species and crops were good for channeling pokémon energy, and the right pulses of exotic force primed materials for their equipment.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The way Laven had explained it, the entire universe was surrounded in a vast field of aura, emitted by every living thing, a seething storm of power existing in the quantum background. Certain tools, certain plants and minerals and structures and shapes and patterns, movements and physical techniques hadn’t been designed to channel or store energy.
They had instead been discovered and iterated on for tens of thousands of years, patterns in nature that they learned, broke down and passed down to future generations. Coffee was a natural stimulant so of course it attracted certain flavors of Type Energy, electric or flying, a certain knife handle shape might let it better channel fire energy, a tool steeped in an area rich in psychic energy is gonna be good at inducing weird chemical reactions to prepare weird bread.
But those rituals pertained to what was effectively the magitech equivalent of dark matter, something we can’t detect with our current instruments and is physically unobservable. Yet it can be measured by its ambient effect on its surroundings, like gravity and galaxies for dark matter and the various energetic effects of life energy.
Though I suppose having so many samples makes it a lot easier to measure than dark matter in my universe.
“Brandon?” Akari responded and I blinked back into awareness with a flush, her skirt swaying in the wind. I felt a surge of misbegotten envy and I grimaced at a revelation I hadn’t had much time to process, besides looking up ways to deal with it.
Medical science is amazing.
“Sorry, I got distracted. But how are you sparring with a pokémon?”
Akari blinked. “Oh that. I’m just built different.”
I frowned. “Really?”
“It also involves years of exercise and healthy eating,” she pointed out with a pointed gaze. “I can assist with that if you give me the chance.”
“Sure?”
Her savage grin wasn’t reassuring.
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I crossed my arms over my chest as I watched Professor Laven read results on a screen. She had called me in after my exhausting training session with Akari.
That girl was a freak of nature let me tell you…
“So the official League season doesn't begin until the autumnal equinox,” I grimaced at the idea, that wasn't until September. “And as you're a first-timer, leaving on your journey this early is out of the question.”
“So about one and a half months or less until I can officially exit this city, for the Gym Challenge anyways.” I specified. I could probably use public transportation for travel reasons at least, train systems were universal across Nihoh, and cars were less common due to the expansiveness of the wilderness. “But I guess that gives me more time to get used to this world huh?”
Professor Laven nodded as she multitasked, crafting algorithms on her monitor for research. “You’re still giving off a notable amount of wormhole energy, which could attract legendary-class pokémon to this region.”
“Ultra Beasts, correct?” I asked, and Laven grimaced like she had taken a sip of spoiled milk. After the Alola incident, which seemed to be a hybrid of both games in terms of plot, Ultra Beasts were a known if somewhat mysterious group of entities.
“It’s why Agent Tedesco is remaining close by, and Ishigama is fortunately full of veteran trainers. We inherited the more aggressive spirit of the Indigo League, so we have some of the stronger trainers around.” There was no mirth in her voice.
I never expected to grapple with the question of colonialism in Pokémon but in the end, that was what the Unified Regions of Nihoh were founded on. The Wataru had joined on the side of Kanto and conquered Johto, cajoled Hoenn into submission by defeating their strongest champions and organized expeditions to explore Hisui and Almia.
That legacy had faded with time, the Pokémon League had been created as a system to funnel excess pokémon to students, creating the first Gyms, which in turn necessitated badges as proof for students who wanted to learn from multiple gyms. Kanto had ended up only strengthening their political enemies, and the Indigo Empire was now merely a league among many.
The government was a cross between a meritocratic shogunate and a social democratic government. It was a very strange and very alien form of government, so it was also a total pain in my ass.
“So what's the plan then?” I wanted to spend more time getting to know Mirko, and more time learning about pokémon as a whole.
“I imagine you don't mind helping me out around the lab or attending classes at the Trainer School?” Laven questioned and I rolled my eyes.
“I don’t have anything better to do,” I pointed out, and the researcher nodded. “But… I did have something else to talk about.” I wasn’t sure if I should bring it up or not, but I had to. No more holding it off.
“Hmm? I’m listening.” The professor tilted her head, and I breathed in and out.
“I’m uhh… do you have any specific health centers you recommend?”
Laven blinked. “For what?”
“Personal reasons I elaborated on when I filled out my papers, remember?”
Her eyes widened.
“Oh!”
Yes.
Oh.
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July 19th, 2022
I laid back on my bed, staring at the strange bottle of medication I had purchased for an absurdly low cost. The bottle itself was blue, pink, and white in a striped pattern, and held a substance I couldn’t believe was possible, but then this was the world of Pokémon where anything was possible.
Berries and other plants were miracles given biological form for their abilities. Oran berries promote bodily homeostasis with a jolt of near-instantly digested energy and acts as a mild, non-addictive pain killer on top of being antibiotic, antiviral and antiseptic. Medicinal leeks promote and accelerate natural healing, and provide energy for fueling cell activity. Sitrus berries take it a step further and induce full-blown cellular regeneration, dead and damaged cells repair themselves along with the spontaneous generation of new and healthy cells.
Pecha berries act as a universal antidote because all toxins sourced from Pokémon are based on a single core molecular structure, and even so they’re effective against a number of unnatural poisons and toxins. Rawst berries are a natural and potent burn salve, with a number of compounds that promote healing and protect from secondary effects like heat, radiation and breaks down effects of fire.
Aspear berries act as a natural antifreeze and ice melt, and its chemical compounds can undo the effects of crystallization from frozen cells. Which was why there were cryonics studies on using the compounds in aspear berries to sustain people in suspended animation for years. A chesto berry has a number of compounds not dissimilar to caffeine, provides a massive boost of instantly digested energy and promotes background brain processes usually taken care of during sleep.
Then there were the studies involving the various abilities of certain Pokémon, the healing moves of course were focused on, the aura abilities of pokémon like lucario, and certain properties of their byproducts.
Ditto was a special one though, they were protoplasmic organisms that shared many traits with things like Caulerpa seaweed and Valonia ventricosa, sea grapes. Which were gigantic single celled organisms that could be seen by the naked eye.
An advanced cytoskeleton was used to circulate food, nutrients and waste all around their dense and malleable cytoplasm; they were held together by heavily reinforced tubules and cell walls made of mineralized biopolymers, with tubules marking the domains of the tens of billions of protein capsules that are analogous to the nuclei in other living things. Intricate biological machinery communicated information between every single sub-cell, genes constantly flowing back and forth, and ditto has the ability to send out enzymes to steal genes, channeling Type Energy into the process to Transform.
Which was why they didn’t share much in common with the solosis line who were also unicellular but used different tubule networks and different biopolymers for their cell walls, and are a bit more conventional…
However they were closer in structure to an extremely sophisticated ciliate cell, each tubule domain containing a macronucleus and micronucleus, using a complex set of genetic editing and splicing tied to their psychic energy to create a Turing-complete genetic computer. With the macronucleus serving as the processor while the micronucleus was the hard drive, with a complex of microfibrils and tubules forming a mechanochemical computer to handle stimuli for both Ditto and Solosis.
Ditto… their shape-shifting was a matter of their incredibly flexible biology and the Move and the programming of the Type Energy, unshaped energy, like clay molded to their will. But the medical applications were endless, and decades of research had paid off even if it was far more limited in every way.
I read the label, scratching my freshly shaved face, having cut away all my facial hair. There was a cute image of a smiling ditto, and the name of the bottle.
[https://i.imgur.com/kgOXnRx.png]
Ditto Derived Transformative or DDT was a powerful and extremely beneficial medication that had been under development since the invention of the Pokédex in 96. Years of work studying ditto, and various Berries and organic extracts and compounds had in one instance become what was effectively an extremely potent and low cost gender transition procedure, along with hundreds of other projects in regenerative medicine, whether it was correcting physical defects like a hole in your heart or healing bones or regrowing limbs and organs.
This was specifically the MTF formula, a specific variety focused around transgender healthcare for effeminate leaning people. Which was something I had been kinda suppressing while I was in shock at being torn away from my world. I had an appointment with a doctor and got the prescription on the spot because the world of Pokémon isn’t made up of total assholes like on Earth.
It was a liquid medicine, one that required only a weekly dosage, and only for a period of between six and eighteen months. The DDT was supplemented with oran, sitrus, and lum berry extract, the first did it’s job in promoting bodily homeostasis, protecting the body from any immune system complications, sitrus paired with medicinal leek compounds induced cellular regeneration and strengthened the biological signal of DDT, while lum cured status ailments and reduced the strain of minor side effects of the gradual transformation.
I had just taken my first weekly dosage, and I could still taste the sweet taste on my lips, kind of like an apple but also not. Which meant the first step of taking care of my own needs had begun.
Mirko was sleeping in her pokéball, she took to either sleeping inside of it or on some cushions if she wanted to be more fancy. I was working on learning about this world, it’s wonders and terrors both.
The wormhole energy I was giving off was being studied, and I was going to carve my own path here rather than wait for salvation. But finding a way home meant I needed to explore every nook and cranny, and go looking for it.
I placed down the bottle and laid back on my bed, looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling.
I was going on a journey, and that was that.