I loved Pokemon. They were awesome, liberating and epic.

Just to say, they were cooler, better, and more intelligent than any other real world animals. I also loved watching pokemon anime and playing pirated pokemon games on my dad’s old laptop, not like I had enough money to legally play them. I still remember playing Pokemon Platinum, and I loved every second of it. But I didn’t like what they did with Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl remakes, what were those chubby things. Someone please enlighten me.

Toffee- or Ser Toffee the great, my pet since my childhood walked alongside me. When I was a kid, I thought I would be free from the prison known as High School. Oh God! How wrong was I. Another prison known as Desk Job was already waiting for me, which I never expected to be trapped in. Nowadays, I think highschool was probably the best place, without any of these troublesome shenanigans.

Today, I decided to go hiking with my little sister, Arya. Because, today was one of those lucky days, when I was free. Arya was on my left and Toffee on my right. 

Up here, the air was just better, cool enough to keep the sweat on my brow from sticking, fresh enough to make me feel alive. My boots crunched over the rocky trail, dodging roots and loose stones. I always liked these hikes: nothing but the open sky, leaves rustling, and the steady rhythm of my dog’s paws and my sister’s footsteps beside me.

“Alright, alright, I am coming.” I said, grinning as I made my way to the already set up campsite, where my sister and my dog were already waiting for me. I love times like these, when there is no tension of completing the work on time, so that I can spend some time with my loved ones. We’ve been out here for hours, normally we never made it out this far. But today something just felt wrong, like there was something ill in the air and I wasn’t feeling good about it.

“Just wait a second, Arya.”

There is a very famous saying in our world, “Anything can happen, Anytime, Anyplace.” And I was the very best example of this as of this very moment. The ground beneath me disappeared, the world reversed and the next moment I was falling, this was my first experience like never before. The slithole of my sister Arya and Toffee continued to shrink as I continued to fall, the shouts of my sister and my dog faded after a while. My hand shot out grabbing at nothing through the air.

“This is not real. This is not possible.”

But it really was. Curse my bad luck.

The surroundings blurred- a chaotic mess of everything happening all at once. My body felt weightless, memories hitting me in a rush, late night gaming with my sister, time spent with my family, going on walks with toffee, visiting cafè with my friends after a hard day of work. So, it was the truth that we see the happiest moments of our life at the time we die.

Soon enough, I found myself in complete darkness.

—

“Wh-where am I?” Eren thought bitterly, as his head pounded, both of his hands reaching for his head to calm the mind numbing headache. He could feel the softness against his back and could feel the bed through his thin clothes, he was leaning on. He could feel that his very own body was not in his own breath, as if his limbs were too small to motor through or control.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself enclosed in a space with fences, which certainly looked like a baby crib.

“Why is everything so small?” Eren thought, as he tried to move his hands in front of his face.

“Miss, your son is awake.” A voice exclaimed loudly. A woman entered the room, Eren turned his face towards the woman, the woman in question took him in her arms with the gentlest care in the world. The woman’s eyes were filled with warmth and care for him, her eyes were red, probably due to crying and labour. To her side was a man, his arm was on her shoulder as a form of comfort. Red veins were visible in his eyes too, but a smile never left his face.

“Damien, my little bundle of joy, Welcome to the World. Thanks for giving us a reason to smile. Thank you, Arceus, for your grace.” 

Confused was the right word Eren now known as Damien would use to explain the current state of his mind. Why the hell? The woman was praying to fucking Arceus of all things. Not that anything was making sense right now. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but all that left his mouth was cooing voices of a baby and they weren’t making any sense.

Slowly Damien was starting to panic, and that panic translated into the distressed cries of a child. 

“Wait… Am I Damien? Isn’t my name Eren? Why is she calling me Damien?” The woman in question took his cries as a signal, the time to feed him. She uncovered her breast and stuffed it in his mouth, slowly the warm milk filled his throat and he fell asleep in her arms, the exhaustion taking a hold on him with such a huge ordeal.

 The cries of the baby stopped as the room fell silent, the only sound in the room was the quiet humming of the father and sweet lullaby of the mother. Soon enough, a nurse wearing the official Pokemon Centre uniform entered the room with a Pokemon, Chansey and took the baby away with her for the medical tests pending.

—

"Vee Vee Vee!"

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Damien’s P.O.V

To think that such a day would ever come, when I would play with a breathing, beautiful and gracious Eevee. Not that, I ever thought I would get reincarnated in the insane but awesome Pokemon World. The saying is right: Expect the Unexpected. Not that, I would have expected that. I can just hope Arya and Toffee will be fine. I also had insurance, so I don’t have any worries. Not that, I can do anything about that. My only option is to pray for their well being. Damien scratched Vee behind the ears, earning a cute trill from her. Damien loved his cute little bundle of joy. 

Vee was the household Pokemon in their family until Damien started his Journey. She was going to join me on my journey too. The journey is a very important tradition in the Pokemon World. Every adult in the region has gone through this tradition. It is like a rite of passage for every individual in this world. Every year, many of my friends have gone through this trail. Almost every region has its own circuit, Kanto, Johto, Heonn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos and Galar have the Gym Challenge. Whereas Alola holds its own Island Challenge, where only its denizens can participate.

Then what’s the problem? Well, He has been reincarnated as the most beloved character in the original Pokemon Series. Oh is it Ash? I don’t have such good luck. I have been reincarnated as the trainer who left Ash’s Charmander in the rain to die. Are you guys surprised? Well, I was too. When You get reincarnated as equivalent to trash of Pokemon World. Let me tell you, I was not thrilled to get stuck in the body of this pain in the a**. Well, you gotta do what you can get, I guess.

The only silver lining was I have my dear Vee, the Eevee to cheer me up. How did Damien get an Eevee? In the original series, he doesn’t have one. How can someone turn evil with such a cute Pokemon? Something bad must have happened to turn Damien evil. Even in the manga, Damien was good and waited years to reunite with his charmander.Was there any other reason for Damien to turn evil? Something to consider some other time.

Why am I monologuing now? Well my journey is going to start today, so why not be excited on such a good day.

___

“Wake up, Damien. It’s time for breakfast.” His mother’s voice came from the kitchen. Damien yawned, opened his eyes and stretched his body, the last bit of sleep drifting from his eyes. He stood up from the bed and made his way to the kitchen returning Vee to her pokeball, where his mother was already waiting for him.

She looked like Damien, but she was really tall. Her hair was like deep blue rubies, not light blue like Damien. “Damien sit tight, breakfast will be ready in five minutes.” His mom called out from the kitchen with a happy smile, which means she was in a good mood. Damien made his way to the table.

“Good Morning, sweetheart. Do you have everything you would need at the Pokemon Journey.” Damien nodded, his gaze drifting to the photograph on the wall. It was a picture of him and his mother and father, taken years ago when his father used to live with them. Her hand rested on his shoulder, a proud smile on her face. His father was a proud policeman of the International Police. But he died while investigating a case related to the infamous Team Rocket.

"Yeah, I've got everything. And Professor Oak's meeting me at the lab, right?"

His mother nodded, placing a plate of pancakes in front of him. "He wouldn't miss it for the world. He's so proud of you, Damien. We all are. Your father must be proud of you too."

“You believe so, Mom?” Damien asked, his voice filled with hope. His mom nodded, causing a smile to appear on his face.

Damien smiled, his nerves easing slightly at his mother's comforting gesture. After breakfast, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and set off towards the Professor Oak’s Lab, where Professor Oak had promised to give them their very first Pokemon.

The path to the lab was familiar and soothing, lined with tall trees and the occasional chirping of wild Pokémon. As he approached the Pokemon Lab, he spotted a figure standing near the entrance, her long, blond hair cascading down from her back. Her eyes were shining like a saphire. Damien has known her since his earlier days. She is Daisy Oak, the Grand Daughter of Professor Oak. Even the most ferocious Pokemon calm down in her presence. When she was a trainer, she used to participate in Pokemon Contests around the world, now she works as an assistant to Professor Oak.

"Big Sis Daisy!" He called out not wanting to appear arrogant in front of the favorite granddaughter of Professor Oak, quickening his pace to the lab.

Daisy turned her face towards him, her eyes lightening up in surprise. She was dressed up in her usual attire of black jeans, blue shirt and top it off with a standard lab coat.

“Hello, Damien, are you ready for your Pokemon Journey?” Daisy Oak asked in her cheerful voice.

“Yes, Big Sis.” Damien replied in an equally cheerful tone.

Daisy invited Damien to the lab. Damien, being the good boy, quickly followed her in.

"Well, Damien, better late than never, I suppose."

Damien turned, only to lock his gaze with a brunette boy his age, dressed in a blue shirt and black pants, his arms crossed over his chest. "Gary Oak?" he muttered, his mind reeling. What was the prick doing here? Well, it was his grandfather’s lab, so he will have to tolerate him a little bit. 

"That's Mr. Gary to you. Show some respect," Gary retorted, reminding Damien of his smugness from their childhood.

“Well you are late as ever Damien. Not that it's the first time.” Gary said in his disgusting voice.

Damien scowled, nowadays Damien was really fed up with Gary, ever since Gary and Ash had a fight when they were little kids, Gary has been quite distant with others like he had something to prove to others. Not like Damien didn’t have any other problems to deal with. Which is for some other time to share.

When the situation was about to escalate, Professor Oak entered the lab, causing both of them to fall silent. “Well, if it isn't our little Damien. Good Morning, Youngman.” 

“Same to you, Professor. I hope you have a good day.” Damien replied in a respectful tone. Then the Professor moved in front of a table, where three pokeballs were put in, one of them was empty. Probably, Gary took it, hoping to get a point ahead of them, not that it made any difference. 

“As you know I am Samuel Oak, and it has been my dream to catch every Pokemon in the world, But now I have grown old so I can’t keep it up due to my age. So I started sponsoring trainers like you to complete the dream of seeing every Pokemon Existing. In return, I will give you your first Pokemon and will help you manage your Pokemon in my coral. As you can already see, Gary already took his starter Pokemon, which was a Squirtle, the water type Pokemon, known worldwide for its defensive capabilities. You have two choices, Bulbasaur, the grass type Pokemon and Charmander the fire type Pokemon, known for its firepower and dual typing. Both are the royal Pokemon of the Kanto Region. Now choose, Damien. 

There was no need for the Professor to tell this to Damien. Damien already knew this from his past life. But, being the good man Professor Oak was, he did so in kind. That’s why Damien came a little late, because he didn’t have anything to worry about, he knew everything from A to Z of Pokemon. Not like in the original timeline, Charmander was his starter. He lost him due to his own fuck up. He was not going to let anything like this happen to any of his friends, be it Charmander or Eevee. Even if Ash stood in his way.

He will be the best version of Damien from any timeline or the entire Pokeverse. And not even Arceus was going to stop him. He stared at the pokeball of Charmander and grabbed it.

“I Choose You Again, Charmander and this time we will blaze through everything in our way. Believe it or not.”