Author Note:

Hey there. This is my first try at writing fanfiction. I wanted to write a dark type specialist that is not edgy or where the story is not “dark”. While I like Banix’s Rocket exterminator its a bit to heavy and my story will NOT be that dark. Expect something in line of ‘Hard enough’ in terms of the general vibe in violence etc.

I’m not yet set on his starter Pokemon as I think I will need till chapter 4 until he gets one (probably). Any feedback is welcome, btw. Do you want to see a Pokemon list at the end of each chapter or something like that?

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“Huh? What the…?“ came the unintelligent mutter.

As I drowsily rose from my sleep, I noticed that this was definitely not my apartment. Something was clearly wrong.

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I saw a room that looked like a teenage boy was living here. Clothing thrown over a chair by a desk and snack wrapping beside the rubbish bin.

“Hm, that’s definitely not my room,” I muttered as I rubbed my chin. “What?! What happened to my beard!”

Noticing the full mirror on the desk I stomped over and was promptly gobsmacked. Looking back at me was not my usual mug, but the face of a teenage boy no older than thirteen or something. He had black hair with a few strands that where snow white over the right side of his forehead. Lifting it I saw a faded scar that I recognised, as I had the same one before whatever happened, happened.

“Oww!” Suddenly a mayor headache came over me causing me to stumble into the chair and promptly falling over. Whimpering I curled up into a ball as I began to recollect stuff from a life not my own.

Apparently the boy, whose face had stared back at me, was named Iruni Inei and was indeed thirteen years old. Than came the real kicker: Pokemon where real. You know those being of extreme power that snot nosed brats trained to be the best there ever was? Yeah those Pokemon. I saw a memory of a way younger Iruni walking near a lake when a massive head emerged from the water. That could only be a Gyarados that now loomed over the boy, growling threateningly.

“Ampharos Thunderbolt! Skarmory get the kid out of there!” a voice called. The vision jostled as the boy was lifted from the ground a pained grunt came from the lake. The boy was dropped by a tall man who wore a blazing red jacket. “You alright there squirt?” said the man sparring a glance at the boy. “Y-y-yes, I-i-i am not h-h-urt…” said the boy and falling unconscious.

‘So the boy nearly got mauled by a wild Gyarados, so definitely not sunshine and rainbows.’ I thought as I saw the life of the boy flashing before my eyes. The boy become fearful of Pokemon and studied mostly. What he wanted to become was not clear, just that he stayed as far away from Pokemon as possible. Although apparently he mellowed out as time progressed. Eventually I came closer to now and I saw the boy lay down on his bed to sleep. And then, nothing. No Dusknoir, no Darkrai, no nothing. Just me waking up in his body.

‘Ok, no panic. I’m inside the body of a boy, with no knowledge what exactly happened. It seemed like I adsorbed his memories or something like that. We are in Mahagony Town and his father had gotten a new job so they where moving to Newbark Town in Hoen the next day.’ I mused as I sat on the floor rubbing my forehead. ‘The boy is a not the most outspoken person and not a big Pokemon fan. And was kind of unhappy with the move.’

I let out a bit sigh, “What should I do now?”. Returning the body seems unlikely, as I had no hint of what happened. So I don’t really have a choice do I? I just have to live this life, as sad as it is for the boy, but I can’t really do anything about it. I have to assume that the boy died somehow.

“ Iruni! Come down, we have to speak!” hollered a voice.

“Huh, I guess that’s me now.” I mused as I left the floor and moved out of the room.

“Dad, where are you?” I said as I descended downstairs. It was weird calling someone else dad, that’s for sure.

“In the kitchen.” came the answer from a door at the end of the hallway. Entering the kitchen saw my new dad sitting at a counter with a brown drink in a whiskey glass. According to the memories Frank Inei had married into the family, which explains the weird name combo, and was forced to take care of his son after his wive died in childbirth. He was a good dad, always struggling a bit between work and his son. Since the boy studied more than anything else he often wore a concerned expression.

“We need to talk about our move to Hoenn. And no, the move is final, I can’t miss this chance to work under a Pokemon Professor. What can I do to help you? I want you to be happy, I heard Rustboro has a good engineering college with an attached Highschool if you want to continue studying.” He spoke the last part a bit desperate, clearly wanting to help his son to better accept the change.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Yes dad, we need to talk. I thought for a long time after our argument yesterday.” Which wasn’t really an argument more a tantrum that the boy threw. “You said that you will research under Professor Birch, his research focuses on Pokemon habitats right? What are you or will you be researching?” I need to get a better picture of what Frank will be doing in Hoenn to formulate a plan. If he will be a low lackey I won’t be able to do much.

“Oh, you researched him? I will be expanding on my biome research and how those affect Pokemon. You know how I discovered alternating behaviour patterns in the Sneasel line between those from the Ice Path and those around Mt. Silver?” he asked with awkwardly scratching his had at his last sentence.

“No, sorry I didn’t really paid attention to that. I was kinda focused on studying at the time and ignored almost everything.” And wasn’t that the truth, the boy almost forgot to eat. Thankfully his father noticed and implemented rules against all nighters and so on.

“Um, well yes. Anyway that’s what brought Professor Birchs attention onto me and he extended the offer to me. I will be working with him to how the different habitats and biomes of pokemon affect their behaviour. The end goal is to predict how a new species of Pokemon would affect the ecosystem and if they would fit in. But that’s way of.” He said proudly and puffing up a bit, taking a bit of his drink at the end with a smile.

“Interesting and yes I researched your new boss. To be honest im kinda fed up with staying in my room and only studying. I figured if we will be moving to an even smaller town I should maybe move on from that damn incident at the Lake of Rage.” Yeah it was a big deal that there was a Gyarados in the Lake. It let to it’s name and no it was not the shiny one from the Gen2 games. That’s something the boy would have remembered. “I thought that I maybe could start by helping out in the lab and learning more about Pokemon that way.” I said, then adding somewhat unsure. “I mean at a Pokemon lab I would be interacting with Pokemon, no?”

Frank sharply said up at my words and looked like he saw me for the first time. Coughing, because he was taking a sip from his drink when I said that he looked me over. “Yeah, of course we interact with Pokemon at the lab. While we mostly parse the data that trainers gather for us or that we will be collecting with field research, the lab also hosts the Pokemon of Trainers that are sponsored by him. But what exactly brought this on? I’m not complaining, but you never wanted to interact with Pokemon even in recent years.” came the answer with somewhat narrowed eyes at the end.

‘Can’t really fault him for that, after the other incidents with the boy.’ I thought ruefully. You see the boy became not only fearful towards bigger Pokemon but began to take revenge on smaller Pokemon. A wack with a stick here, water balloons on firetype there. The boy became a real brat, but a crafty one at that. After getting caught several times he was forbidden from interacting with Pokemon, for his safety on course. An annoyed Vulpix nearly burned his hair in revenge after a balloon drenched her. After that he simply avoided Pokemon in general.

“I can understand why you are a bit suspicious. I’ll be honest, I was a real brat and didn’t really understand that what I was doing could be that dangerous. I want a new start, where people don’t know me and whisper what a weird one I am behind my back. And maybe, just maybe, start to make friends. I first thought simply asking to be allowed to go onto a journey myself but than realised that I know almost nothing about Pokemon. I figured that it would end badly and than came the idea to kinda work or intern at the lab to learn more about Pokemon. That way you or the others at the lab can keep an eye on me to make sure I don’t do anything wrong. And I would be learning more or less from a renowned Professor.” I spoke with a hopefully earnest tone in my voice.

“Hm…” he hummed. “You can imagine that I can’t make that decision as the new hire? We would need to ask the Professor when we arrive there. But I can see the benefits for you and for me. I won’t be worried what you are up to alone in the apartment and you can learn more about Pokemon. And of course interact with them, there is only so much you can learn from books after all.” he surmised. “Well, I just wanted to clear up our argument. I guess this works. We will be leaving tomorrow with the flight service to Goldenrod and from there with the train to Saffron City. After that again with the flight service to Vermillion to catch our boat. We will need a week to arrive in Petalburg City.” he explained our travel route.

“Can you give me some books about Pokemon for our journey? I want to at least have some knowledge before I ask the Professor.” I hesitated a bit to ask him, because I figured I could just try my luck on the (of course apply named) PokeNet.

“I think I can give you some primers. I don’t doubt you will have a problem with them, but they are more on the science side and not really suited for new trainers.” he shrugged and downed his drink. “Now, hop hop. Go and pack up a bag and gather anything you want to take with you but not more than one suitcase. We will need to shop for clothes in Petalburg because the weather is way warmer there. We only take essentials and mementos ok?”

“That’s fine, you can donate my books if you want. I doubt I will need them over there as I want to learn more about Pokemon.” I said as I stood up. “I will go pack now.”

“I will also pack. I will wake you up at 8 am, our ride comes at 9. That should give us enough time to get ready.”

Back in the bedroom in which I woke up I replayed the conversation and was satisfied. While I wanted to explore, I realised quickly how little I actually know about the world. I played the games of course, though mainly Gen1 to 3. But I cant remember most PokeDex entries only some.

Next problem was that I need to really think about what happened and that is easier in a settled location than on the road. I remember two fanfictions that started with a similar trope, one where a Dusknoir plucked a soul from our world into a dying body and one where a boy hit his head and was promptly replaced by the mc. Both don’t really apply to my situation, as the boy had simply gone to bed in I took hist place in the morning.

“Lights out in 5 minutes! We have to get up early” hollered my new Dad.

“Alright!” I hollered back and switched to my sleeping clothes after brushing my teeth.

‘Well, tomorrow my new life will begin’ I thought as I drifted to sleep.