“Options, options, options…”

“Ekansss, ekansss, ekansss…”

I was halfway along the path leading up to the ranger checkpoint into Viridian Forest, about two hours out of town. The trees visible from the city were truly massive at this point. Pacing back and forth across the road, I was mirrored by my purple shadow, Ekans, slithering beside me.

“Okay, Ekans, let's take stock.”

“Ekans.” I received an affirmative assent from Ekans as we made the next 180-degree turn and began the trek back to the other side of the trail.

“1.”

“Ek.”

“We have to make a reasonable attempt at this league season. If we don’t, I’ll go to prison or get whacked by a gang.”

“Ek ekanss an e kanss.”

“Or hunted by a ninja, good catch.” I pointed towards Ekans in recognition of his addendum as we made our next turn.

“2.”

“Ka.”

“We have a mob boss taking a secret but personal interest in our future.”

“Ekan ka a san?” Ekans asked with a tilt of his head.

“It stands for mafia, in this case, Team Rocket.” Wait, is he getting easier to understand? I gave him a glance and chalked it up to body language.

“3.”

“Sanss.” We continued.

“The cops, League, Cain's parents, and the general public are under the assumption I have amnesia.”

“Ekan San’s?” Ekans stopped to give me a troubled stare. Ah, right, I should probably broach that topic sooner rather than later with the not-so-little dude. I stopped as well and gave him my full attention.

“Yeah, Ekans, no amnesia.” He backed up a little. “You’re okay, buddy. I was honest when I said I wasn’t the same guy and had no memories of Cain's past.” God, he looked so confused.

“Best I can surmise is Cain died when the ceiling used him as a crash pad. I died too, in my world—one without Pokémon.” That revelation elicited a shocked look from Ekans, which I understood. It was like being told to imagine a new colour. The fact that Cain was really dead didn’t seem to startle him too much.

“I woke up in Cain's body, given a second chance by fate, destiny, Arceus, or just dumb luck.” I took Ekans's Poké Ball from my belt, where it had been resting next to two empty ones that had used up the last of our funds.

“I’ll give you the same offer as last time, Ekans. I want you as my partner, me, not the Cain that was here before and is very much gone. I hope.” A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of his soul resurfacing and having to fight over the body. Ekans began to slowly slither across the trail again, back and forth, back and forth. He finally stopped after what felt like an age.

“Ekans,” he said as he slid up to me.

“You sure?”

“Ekans.” I let out a breath I didn’t realise I had been holding. I really did luck out with this guy, huh?

He flicked his head towards the opposite side of the trail, and we began pacing again.

“Right, where were we?”

“Ekansan.”

“Amnesia, okay, which everyone thinks we have except Grunts 1 and 2, and potentially Team Rocket. Depends if Giovanni trusts Kadabra’s professionalism over any reports that reach his ears from the underlings.”

“Ekans?”

“Yeah, it was a bit risky, but I needed to find out if they were just going to scare the kid or if they are the type of people to kill if they thought it would further their goals.” I looked down at Ekans and asked the question with my eyes. I received a regretful nod of affirmation of my suspicions about how dark Team Rocket are.

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“Well, shit.” I had been kind of holding out for the cartoon villains that would bumble through any dastardly deeds.

“Kans.”

“4,” I agreed. “We are broke, but a gym battle should fix that.”

“Decision time, we head through the forest and hit up Brock’s gym, which is just terrible typing for you.” I felt bad at the affronted look Ekans shot me, but rock-ground is a real uphill battle for a poison-type. That's most of Brock's retinue, unless he uses different Pokémon than in the games for a first badge battle.

“Ekansss,” he slapped his tail down. Well, I guess we know who wears the snakeskin in this relationship.

“Fine, but if we’re going to take down some rock-types, we will either need more teammates or moves to deal with the typing issue.” While Ekans hissed and harumphed his way through some choice vocalisations of his name at the idea of needing more than him for the gym, I thought about the nearby options for poison types. I whipped out my phone and did a quick search, finding that there is a whole ranger database for Pokémon showing their known habitats and recent sightings.

From a quick once over a few routes I remembered from the game, there seems to be a lot of overlap, but it’s not as locked in as the games. Makes sense as real Pokémon would wander around unlike their programmed counterparts. Viridian Forest is full of the same bugs and grass-types I remember, but it also shows some people have come across the odd Exeggcute in the last couple of years, as apparently some trainer died in the forest, releasing his Exeggutor before passing. No idea what it is breeding with and not sure I want to.

“Wait, died!” Ekans stopped his tirade, realising I wasn’t really listening, to give me the “what you talking about fool” look. “A trainer died in the forest. No one said I could die just like that.”

Some more searching showed it is rare for a trainer to die if they avoid areas off route, but it can happen if they aggravate the wrong Pokémon or do something incredibly stupid like catching 22 Kakuna during breeding season in an attempt to trade them for cash. That is some Jessie and James level of stupidity.

I allowed my thoughts to turn back to useful Pokémon; there were a lot, but I would need to limit myself to the poison ones. Beedrill, according to the phone, is a hard catch and dangerous due to its aggressive nature. It’s advised to catch a stray Weedle and take the time to evolve it. Besides, a bug-poison might be worse than my pure poison-type serpent against an Onix, as cool as they are. Tentacool is definitely a great choice, but I’d have to double back to Pallet Town to get anywhere near the sea to catch one. Shame, two quick surfs and we would be on to gym number 2.

Grass-types now, that is certainly an option and would help with the water gym as well. Oddish or Bellsprout would do the trick. The flaw there is team size; I can’t expect to be offered a Pokémon daycare like Ash had with Oak. Which would be fine, I’d manage, but if I want a varied team, I shouldn’t double up on second typings too much, and despite the unlikelihood, I may or may not actually be holding out for a certain regional starter.

According to the Poke-net, however, regional starters are heavily regulated and generally raised in protected reservations and not just handed out to every trainer. They can be bought or traded for, but being so rare on the market, the fees are extortionate. Ekans could slither through a vent, maybe let me in from the inside. Nah, surely the good professor would have considered that in securing the lab.

"Okay." I slap both my cheeks lightly to bring me back to our present situation. "Let's not overthink the future team for now. Let's focus on making you stronger instead." Ekans puffs up what would be his chest if he wasn’t all noodle. "Let's get through the checkpoint and teach you a new move." Ekans flickers some poison energy into his tail, trying to get Poison Sting to materialise. The barbs are a bit bigger and last a little longer, but the move is still incomplete as it flickers out.

"Nice try, but I actually have something else in mind for now."

***

The checkpoint was actually fairly large; it had enough space for a small coffee shop and lounge for trainers to rest in. There were also a few bunk rooms at the back for the rangers stationed here in case of emergencies. I talked to a woman at the reception desk who explained that other checkpoints had places for trainers to sleep and eat more than a muffin, but being this close to Viridian, they didn’t feel it needed much more.

The woman turned out to be a ranger too. I was hoping to get a better understanding of the rangers' jobs, which she was all too happy to explain to the kids who came in after me. However, I got the cold shoulder after she scanned my Trainer ID and gave me a rather curt warning about staying away from the Weedle breeding grounds and avoiding areas where Scythers had marked trees. Unlike the other trainers, I wasn’t shown a map of areas known to contain such dangers as noted during recent patrols, nor was I informed about the best places to capture certain Pokémon or the quickest and safest route through the forest. Apparently, the average travel time through the forest is about four days, but it can be done in two if you really focus on making it out. Those tidbits were reserved for the trainers who didn't have a warning pop up on their screen after swiping their ID.

I really need to turn one of those screens around at some point to get an idea of exactly what's on there. I did overhear a few factoids. Rangers are in charge of the safety of the routes, scaring away any of the more dangerous Pokémon. Unfortunately, they don’t have cool wristbands that summon giant mechas, and the uniforms are all the same colour – disappointing, I know. They also monitor the Pokémon’s habitats to ensure the ecosystem doesn’t get thrown out of balance, as it can apparently lead to stampedes, Pokémon tantrums, or dangerous migrations.

They also started to mention something about rain, but that was drowned out by the sudden yelling of two trainers arguing over who had the largest Pidgey. The argument was quickly shut down by a ranger releasing his Fearow and offering to show the trainers a few tricks outside. From what I could gather, the season was set to start in about a week, and most of the young trainers here were trying to get a jump start on their journey. Some older ones were about but seemed more relaxed, just taking it easy or checking a jobs board on the wall to pick up some extra cash pre-season. I don’t think Heracross hunting at our current level seems like a good idea, so I gave that and the other jobs a pass.

“Let’s hit the road before one of these twerps latches onto us. I don’t feel like playing babysitter through the forest.” Ekans gave me an indifferent hiss and a shrug of the tail, and then we set off into the wilds.

***

"Give it another go, Ekans. Try to get a good twist of your body to increase the strength of your Slam.”

“Ekansss!” Ekans let out an exertive yell as he lifted his tail up, then corkscrewed his body and brought it down hard on a boulder we had chosen as our test dummy. The rocks I had tied to him acted as extra weights. We had spent the rest of the day walking through the forest, past bushes shaking with Rattata scurrying past, bugs worming up trees, and Flying-types taking off at the sound of a trainer crunching through their home. Honestly, it was somewhat enchanting. I imagine others might have just found it to be a normal forest with some Pokémon running about that aren’t that strong, but for an otherworlder who watched the shows, movies, and played the games to experience some escapism from his daily grind of grinding assholes to a pulp… it was amazing.

We had found a clearing where we decided to set up camp for the night. We snacked on rations warmed together at a small fire and fell asleep watching unknown constellations blink through the trees. I doubt I had ever seen as many stars on Earth in my entire life as I did this night alone. As I started to drift off to sleep, Ekans began to hiss and get agitated. I guessed he was uncomfortable with the new surroundings. I sat up and scouted the area, but there was no sign of anything too dangerous. The rangers had said that the more dangerous Pokémon wouldn’t be this close to the ranger station, even if we had made good pace. He calmed down as I stayed awake longer, checking the clearing. I decided to stay up until he drifted off by the fire. Once he was out, I returned him to his Pokéball to get a good rest. I always had trouble sleeping, and I didn’t have the sweet Mary Jane and chaotic adventures of Ash and company to distract me from the nightmares to come.

I began to feel cold despite the flames flickering nearby as a fog started to creep over my vision. I briefly heard the sounds of kids crying and a belt cracking as a man shouted out for me. But before the sounds could intensify, the fog seemed to encompass me completely. It felt like a comforting morning mist on a dewy day, cocooning my body, and everything went black.

I woke up the next day feeling surprisingly rested. I can’t remember ever sleeping that well, especially two days in a row. I probably have too many worries on my mind, exhausting me to the point where I'm just shutting down completely. Yeah, that’s probably it, or maybe Kadabra messed with something while he and that glorious moustache kept me under. I should see about buying him some wax if that’s the case.

Ekans' Pokéball was shaking a lot – guess he is an early riser, whoops. I released the grumpy serpent, and after agreeing that I wouldn’t lock the ball so he couldn’t release himself at will in the future, we had some breakfast and finally started training. “So Ekans, ever heard of Iron Tail?”