Right after Peter had entered the game, his world went white. At first he was scared, but being the smart young lad he was, he quickly figured out what was happening and got even more excited.
Looking around, he saw a screen floating a few feet away and he walked forwards to read it.
———————————————
[Pokémon]
[Single Player/Co-Op]
[Multiplayer - Age Restricted]
[Full Dive - Unavailable]
[Quit]
———————————————
Performing a small test, Peter selected [Quit] and exited the game. Looking around, his room was normal, his arms were normal, and his computer still had the ASTIR website pulled up.
Having confirmed his suspicions, Peter was even more excited to hop right back in and immediately clicked the [Pokémon] logo once again. Maybe if he was a few years older he might’ve questioned how the website did what it had, or even worried about why, but being only ten years old, Peter didn’t care about those things in the slightest.
Arriving in the white room once more, the boy jogged back over to the floating screen and jabbed at the [Single Player] with his little fist, the display shattering in a burst of pixelated light.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed and the sounds of trumpets came from all around him. They were swiftly followed by drums, horns, cymbals, and eventually an entire orchestra as a video similar to the one he’d watched earlier started to play out before him.
In this one, two purple animals were battling each other in what looked like a massive coliseum. The crowd roared each time a blow was struck and little Peter was getting fired up right along with them.
However before the fight could come to a conclusion, the scene shifted over to one of the same boy he’d first seen on the website. This time fighting alongside a little orange animal with a fiery tail against a weird rock with a face and two arms.
Before Peter could find out the conclusion of this fight, the scene shifted to another once again. Battle after battle came and went, every time with new animals and people alongside them. Peter was so pumped up that he felt he might fall over exhausted before he even got to play!
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Finally, after the last battle between a giant blue turtle with canons on its back and a fire breathing dragon, the video faded away and the Pokémon logo appeared under two giant spotlights. From the surrounding darkness, a middle aged man walked out and smiled while looking down at the boy.
“Hello there,” he said. “My name is Professor Oak, let me be the first one to welcome you to the wonderful world of Pokémon.”
Peter stared blankly at the man for a moment before he shook off the shock he just went through and remembered his manners, “H-Hello sir. My name is Peter Parker.”
The man chuckled, “It’s nice to meet you Peter Parker. I can see that this is your first time in our world, would you like me to explain a little bit about it for you?”
Peter nodded eagerly, earning another laugh from the man before he continued, “You see, this world is inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon.”
Oak grabbed a red ball from his belt and tapped the button in the center, enlarging it to fill his hand. The ball opened and with a ‘Kachu!’ a beam of red light shot out, materializing into a small brown, cat?
The professor smiled down at the creature as it jumped up onto his shoulder and snuggled into his cheek. He gave its chin a quick scratch before continuing his speech, “For some people, Pokémon are pets. Others use them for fights. Myself… I study Pokémon as a profession.”
Peter raised his hand as his eyes were locked onto the furry creature perched atop the man, “Um, mr Professor Oak sir. Is it possible for me to get my own Pokémon?”
This time Oak’s laughter was loud and boisterous, “Of course you can, son! That’s why we’re here isn’t it?”
The Pokémon jumped off the professor’s shoulder and into Peters arms as Oak reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
“Now just tell me, where would you like to start?” With a wave of his hand, a giant map flew out and enlarged right in front of the pair. Several areas where highlighted in yellow with their names listed beneath them. “You can choose any one of these regions to start your very own adventure from. If you have any friends you would like to invite along, no need to worry. Co-Op play can be joined from any region and the invitee will be returned to the nearest Pokémon center by their departure location.”
Peter looked up at the map in confusion as he idly stoked the Pokémon in his arms. He turned to Oak and asked, “Um, Professor, does it matter where I start? I don’t really have a preference…”
Oak scratched his chin as he hummed in thought, dozens of responses and variations running through the VI’s code all unbeknownst to the boy.
“Ah!” He finally exclaimed and pounded a fist into his palm, “I know, your from the United States, right? Then how about you start in the Unova region, it’ll be the most familiar to you.”
“Um… I don’t know. What region are you from Professor?” Peter asked.
“Well, I like to travel so I get around quite a bit,” Oak said wistfully. “But my hometown and laboratory are both based in the Kanto region where my grandson is about to start his own Pokémon journey.”
The professor glanced down, saw the stars shining from the boy’s eyes and chuckled, “Would you like to start out in the Kanto region then?”
Peter nodded his head eagerly to which Oak returned a kind smile, “Very well then, I’ll see you in my lab bright and early tomorrow morning. Good luck young Peter Parker!”
“Ee-vah!” Cried the little cat in the boy’s arms as it jumped back atop the professor’s shoulder and the two began to walk away.
Peter watched as the two disappeared into colorful spinning pixels and was startled to be reminded that this was actually a game. The conversation, the battles, the promise of adventure, he was so caught up in it all that he’d actually forgotten!
Turning around, he once again saw the floating screen and came to a decision. Without hesitation, he clicked the [Quit] button and exited the game.
The professor had said that his grandson was going to start his journey on the same day as him. If that was the case, then Peter had to call Ned and get him to join as well.