Markus POV

“Start talking. Now.”

Takahashi’s words were harsh, and demanding. The tension had grown thin with the biggest reveal, and now people, and Pokemon stood ready for something to happen.

I took a deep breath, trying to release the adrenaline that was building. A couple of moments passed before the shaking had calmed, and I had enough clarity to speak.

“I will, but could you wake up Watcher? He should hear this.”

I tried to put as much genuine emotion behind my words in an attempt to de-escalate the situation. My efforts paid off, as I saw Takahashi’s expression soften slightly. He turned to Green, who returned a slight nod. Without taking his eyes off of me, he made his way to the kitchen, and began filling a mug with ice. I had to stop my smirk for what was about to happen.

Takahashi used Avalanche on Agent Watcher.

It’s super effective.

“FUCK ME! THAT’S COLD!” cried the agent as he jolted into a sitting position. His eyes began frantically scanning the room until they fell on me. “YOU! HOW?”

I winced at the noise. There was fear and accusations in his voice, and I was the cause of it. I started to shake again, feeling myself shut down. I wasn’t able to handle this kind of confrontation. The feeling of crawling into a ball and finding the nearest corner was swiftly growing.

Before I could spiral any further, my head was engulfed by a water bubble. The sudden coolness helped to calm my nerves.

“*Better?*”

“Yea, a bit better. Thanks partner.”

I reached out to embrace Phobia after he let me out of the bubble. I still felt jittery, but the constant contact with my friend helped to quell those feelings.

Takahashi cleared his throat, drawing the room back to the current situation. “So, can you explain the alarming amount of legends you are in possession of?”

I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding, and looked to the ranger.

“So, Pokemon was a collection based role play game back where I’m from, and one of the goals was to complete the Pokédex. The games themselves would give out gifts and events in the form of Legendaries like Arceus.”

“And how is it you can have them physically here?” This time it was Watcher who spoke. He still looked bewildered, but he seemed to reclaim some sanity.

“I’m not sure,” I spoke honestly. “In the old world, I threw myself off a bridge, and I brought some of my stuff down with me. When I woke up here, most of them were either destroyed or relatively unharmed. My Switch, however, has changed into what you see now. Somehow, I’m able to call upon the Pokemon I collected in the game.”

I felt multiple people stare at me after saying that.

“Are you able to summon them whenever you’d want? And do they share the same personalities, and characteristics the Pokemon would normally be known for?”

It was Takahashi who spoke this time. It made sense, as rangers are widely considered experts when handling dangerous Pokemon, and I had just said I can summon hundreds of them.

“There seems to be a seven day time limit on the withdrawal. As for the mannerisms of the Pokemon, I can’t say. My only one on record is Phobia, and he’s absolutely wonderful.”

“I see, we may need to see a larger sample size, if you don’t mind,” Watcher started. “And it makes sense when you mentioned not worrying about Ultra Beasts, since your method to get here was… unorthodox. Listen, Markus, if you wanted to talk abou-”

“I’m fine,” I snapped at the agent, wincing a bit at how quickly I interrupted him. “Sorry, I just want to get through this first.”

Watcher nodded, dusting himself off as he stood, and went to his seat.

“We can do that. So, how much about our world do you know about?” He asked after settling back in.

“It really depends on a couple of things,” I started, rummaging through my mind for any information. “In my world, there were multiple different timelines. Those included the Anime, Manga, and Game Series. I’m sure there’s others, but those were the main three. The easiest way to know the difference between the three would be its protagonist.”

Stolen story; please report.

I paused my ramblings when I saw Watcher taking notes. He urged me to continue after he finished writing.

“The anime followed a boy named Ash Ketchum, or Satoshi. The manga follows the main characters from the games, but with their original names. An example would include Red from Kanto or Black from unova. The games would put the players into the role of the protagonist like Red or Black, but they’d have a different story and goal, somewhat. Did any of those characters ring a bell for you guys?”

“I’m not sure about this Ash person you’re referring to, but when you say Red, are you referring to The Lost Champion Red, from Kanto?” asked Takahashi.

I nodded, and the usually stoic face of the old ranger cracked slightly.

“He became a bit of a myth to us Kantonians with his actions, sweeping the gyms, conference, and Elite 4, all in a single year, only to vanish into thin air. This is the first I’ve heard his name in a while, and to think it came from an off-worlder.”

No Ash, but Red exists. I think this means I’m in the game's timeline. I was gonna have to thank the Arceus of this world personally for not throwing me in with that 10 year old natural disaster.

“I think I understand which timeline I’m in. Now, I’d need to pinpoint where I am on it,” I began, a waterfall of questions ready to leave my mouth. “It really depends on what events have happened recently. Have there been any massive rain storms or droughts in hoenn? Has Team Rocket taken over Goldenrod? Did Red come down from Mt. Silver, and if he did, was he spotted in Driftveil or Alola? Have Team Galactic summoned Dialga and Palkia?”

I looked up mid rambling to see three sets of horrified faces, the sight becoming a regular occurrence.

Watcher pulled out a phone-like device, and began delving with the help of Green. Meanwhile, Takahashi looked like he was struggling to form a sentence.

“Red… Silver… Alola…”

Ah right, only Oak was supposed to know this location.

Oops.

The ranger’s mumbling got louder, and increased in speed the longer he stared at the table. It was thanks to Achie putting his head in Takahashi’s shoulder that snapped him out of the spiral. His eyes drifted slowly to the Switch, letting his gaze linger on the device, until he suddenly barked out a laugh.

“Of course the Arceus man would know the location of our legends.”

He sounded exhausted.

After far too long, Takahashi stood, and went back into the kitchen. He spent some time scrounging around until he found what looked like a bottle of dark liquid. He didn’t even bother to grab a cup, instead just popping the cap, and started chugging. After wiping his mouth, he came back and reclaimed his seat, sliding the bottle to Watcher. The agent followed suit, snagging the bottle, and eagerly drank from it.

It wasn’t even noon, but I don’t think I could blame them.

Eventually, Watcher set down his phone and groaned, passing the bottle back to Takahashi.

“Seems like the latest natural disaster to occur was some extreme weather in Hoenn caused by some ecoterrorist. What exactly does that tell you?” Watcher asked as he started to look concerned. “And what do you mean by some team summoning the creation gods?”

“Well, I’ve got some good news, and some very bad news,” I started as I ignored the groans from the agent. “The good news is that I can pinpoint my location somewhat, and we could proceed from there.”

“The bad news?”

“So much worse is yet to come. I’m talking about near universal extinction level events.”

Watcher said nothing this time, just sighed and started rubbing his temple. He stood, making his way towards one of the rooms, before turning towards the group.

“Taka, I need to lie down. I hope you don’t mind if I use this room,” he said, sending a pleading look towards the ranger, who nodded. Watcher sent his friend a weak smile before locking eyes with me.

“I’m going to ask you to stay here for a while. We still have plenty of questions that need answering, and we need to test your Switch.”

He didn’t wait for me to answer as he walked into the room and closed the door. I could briefly hear muffled screams of exhaustion coming from that direction.

With things settled for now, I started to slowly relax, letting today’s worries wash out of me.

“So, what now?” I asked the two remaining members of the group.

Takahashi looked towards a clock, and sighed, putting down the bottle he had been nursing. “Green will be going through what memories they were able to pull, so he’ll be busy. As for me, my team needs training.”

Green scoffed at the old ranger, and his eyes lit up as he crossed his arms. Takahashi just chuckled as he rose from his seat.

My mouth was left agape. I hadn’t even felt anything like that happening.

Green noticed my reaction and started giggling. “*It’s my specialty,*” he explained. “You did agree to a psychic search, and if it makes you feel better, I only snagged things that pertained to our conversation, and barely at that. You’ve got some surprisingly strong defenses!”

I shot the Gardevoir a look before resigning. I had told Watcher I was willing, but I was hoping to at least get some warning it would happen. Deciding I needed a distraction, I stood. “Well, that aside, I was wondering if I could join you in training sir.”

I could have sworn I saw the ranger’s lip twitch upward. “I was just about to ask if you’d join me.”

His smile looked sinister, and I felt a chill go down my spine.

What kind of Hell have I just signed up for?

—————————————————————-

Hell, as it turns out, was a giant open field, and your torturer is an old man who forces you into heavy exercise.

I was sprawled out on the ground, breathing slowly, and trying to relax my aching muscles as sweat pooled around my broken body. Accompanying me was a familiar Lechonk, also going through his own form of hell.

“Good work with the warm-up, boys, take a break, and then afterwards we’ll start the real workout,” the devil ranger said, probably grinning evilly at our suffering.

A couple of moments went by as I stared into the sky, trying to make the best of my break, when I noticed my big purple spider started looming over me. Slowly, I brought myself to a sitting position, and began stroking his leg.

“Hey, big guy. How are you handling all this?” I asked, looking Phobia over. To my surprise, he actually seemed a bit worn out.

“*This has been an ordeal, but it is one I welcome,*” Phobia replied excitedly. “*I do hope to spar with that Archie soon. Our last match ended far too quickly for my liking.*”

I nodded, and a grin slowly made its way onto my face, and my earlier weariness vanished. Whether I liked it or not, I was part of this world, and I was starting to enjoy it.

Slowly, I got to my feet, and with what energy I could manage, I called out.

“Hey, Takahashi!”

The Ranger turned, and almost immediately recognized the look in my eyes.

“You sure about this Markus, we haven’t even finished training?”

He was being cordial, because when I saw his face, I saw the giddiness of a child whose Christmas came early.

“You know the old saying Takahashi. When two trainer’s eyes meet…”

Takahashi whistled, and immediately, his partner appeared at his side, sharing the same crazed look of his Trainer.

“A battle will ensue. I hope you’re ready, because I’ve got a lot of stress that needs dealing with!”

My grin turned sharp. Win or lose, this is going to be so fucking fun.

Thank you for reading!