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09:00 AM

I stared at myself in the mirror, and a man slightly different to myself stared back. The other figure in the mirror had my face, my height, and my posture, but there was something starkly different. He wasn’t anywhere near overweight.

We had the following similarities: A round face that contained blue eyes, dark brown hair, and some fuzz under the chin. We were both a hundred and eighty-seven centimetres tall and had a solid build. But this mirrored version of me had hair that was slightly longer than my short hair, acne in different places, and most prominently, he was fit. He had defined muscles and a lot less fat than I did. Last time I checked, I was a hundred and eight kilograms, but this man couldn’t be anywhere near that weight. He was at least twenty kilograms lighter, though, without a scale, it was difficult to tell.

This was the new body that Elf gave me when I jumped into this world. “You gain a body that is healthy and strong. Not Captain America strong, but close.” That was one of the skills that I chose on the form that the man in white gave me. Isn’t the Cap able to keep a helicopter from taking flight by pulling it down? If I’m supposed to be close to that strong… Images of pushing cars around flashed in my mind. I need to test this out. Though maybe not here, since I might break something.

Johanna, Lucas’s mother, was kind enough to offer a place to stay for the day. I had just taken a shower to wash the saltwater off of me, though it confused me that a lake – which is normally freshwater – had water that was very similar to seawater. Wait, isn’t there a cave in Unova that’s said to connect to Sinnoh? That might be why. There’s probably a secret cross-continental water trail or something. Clean clothes that appeared to be around my size were laid across the vanity. Apparently, they belonged to Lucas’s father, a white shirt, and a pair of jeans. Hang on… something’s missing… Oh, right… Jocks… Undies and socks are gonna be a massive problem. I was wearing my only pairs.

“Johanna!” I yelled out the bathroom door with a towel around my waist, “Sorry, but I don’t have any spare pairs of underwear, I’m not sure what I should do.”

“Uh…” I hear down the hall, a charismatic and soothing voice, “You’ll just have to wait until your pair dries, unfortunately. I’m really sorry about that.” She was so polite, just like her son. Maybe it’s hereditary.

“No, it’s okay, you’ve done so much already. I can wait.”

“Well, it’ll be another hour before your clothes are done in the dryer.”

“Thank you so much!”

“No problem.”

Before I closed the bathroom door, I noticed Elaine staring up at me, (luckily not at an uncompromising angle,) holding a hand to her mouth curiously.

“Jach!” she cooed as she raised her arms to reach out to me.

“Hi, Elaine.” I picked her up and closed the door behind me. “You were perfect with the “j” sound, but you messed up the “ck.” It’s a bit like the sound you make when you cough.”

“Ckh… Ckh…”

“A bit less air than that.”

“Ck… Ck…”

“Perfect.”

“Jack.”

“Hello! You called me?”

I placed her on the bathroom floor. With the towel still around me, I sat on the bathmat cross-legged, careful not to accidentally expose myself, whether or not it was successful, I didn’t know.

“You holding up ok?”

“Vu!” She nodded.

“That’s good…”

“…”

I am so crap at starting conversations… What should I talk about?… Eventually, I attempted to talk about Johanna and her son. “It really nice of Lucas and his mother to let us stay wasn’t it? What do you think of them?”

She thought for a moment. Then she slowly formed a fist and pointed her thumb upwards while she shrugged.

“So, you think they’re alright?”

She nodded again, “Vuhu.”

“Just alright?”

She nods again.

“Well, what do you think about me?”

She didn’t even hesitate, she just leapt onto my thigh and hugged me.

“Aww…” I hugged her back. She felt like a small teddy bear wearing a helmet. “Hey, Elaine?” I asked as I un-hugged her slightly.

“Vuh?” Her red eyes looked up at me under her helmet hair.

“Would…” How do I ask this?… Eh, stuff it. “Would you like to be my first Pokémon?”

Again, with no hesitation, she nodded. “Vuhu!”

I reached into my bag, which was lying in the corner of the room, and pulled out a Pokéball. “I think you’re supposed to press the button. Wait, no before that,” I pressed the button as the Pokéball suddenly grew from the size of a golf ball to the size of a lawn bowl. “That’s cool!” I became a bit giddy with the sudden reality of fictional science. I pointed the button at the front of the ball towards Elaine, “Here you go.”

She tentatively pressed the button, and in response, the ball violently opened into two domes as the Ralts in front of me turned into a red silhouette, lost her shape, and then became confined within the suddenly closed Pokéball. The ball shook as if a rat or hamster was struggling against it. Then it shook again, and then again, and then there was a click. The click that signifies a caught Pokémon.

I have a Pokémon. It didn’t seem real. I have a Pokémon. I almost froze under the excitement; my hands were shaking. How do I call you out? I pressed the button on the ball, it just changed its size back to a golf ball, so I pressed it again. I threw it half a metre in the air, nothing happened. “Uh… how do I call you out?”

Suddenly it opened as a yellow light took form at my torso. Elaine materialised, with her arms around my neck almost dangling. “Jack!”

“Hi, Elaine. So, if I want you to come out, do I just say so?”

“Vuhu.” I felt her nodding.

“Huh. So, does that mean Pokéballs a voice commanded? Or do the Pokémon inside come out any time they want?” I said as I un-hugged her.

“Vu…” she put her hand up to her chin.

“You’re not sure?” I asked.

She shrugged and held up two fingers. “Vu?”

“So, you think it’s the second one but you’re not sure?”

Elaine nodded.

“I guess we can experiment with it, is that okay with you?”

She nods again.

After a few minutes of returning and releasing the Ralts to and from her Pokéball, it turns out that it’s the Pokémon that decides when to come out. They can hear you when they are inside the ball, so they know to come out when you call them. Well, I guess Jessie’s Wobbuffet and Misty’s Psyduck were both able to come out of their Pokéball any time they wanted.

I decided to check my Pokédex again. “This thing said that it would have more information on you once I caught you.”

“Vu?” She cooed as she leaned over my arm to read with me.

The user interface was near exactly the same as the Pokémon Platinum status screen for your Pokémon. “Elaine. Female. Caught in a Pokéball. Level 5. No Item. Pokédex Number 210. Name Ralts. Type Psychic/Fairy. Original Trainer Jack Harvey. ID Number 11037.”

“Wait,” I exclaimed. “My ID number is one, one, zero, three, seven?!” I let out a voiceless giggle. “You have got to be kidding me!” Elaine looked up at me, confused. “It’s a reference to a video game. If I explain it would spoil it. I might get to show it to you some time.” Seriously Elf? You don’t like my Steins;Gate reference but you do this?

I continued to read through the screen. “Experience Points 156. To Next Level 114.”

“So, experience works like in the games. That’s good.” I pressed right on the D-Pad to flip to the next page. “Bold Nature.” I read out loud. That’s plus defence minus attack, not bad. “I guess that describes you pretty well, we just met and you’re already hugging me.”

“Vu!” I felt her squeeze my arm.

“21 June 2007. Twinleaf Town. Caught at level 5. Often dozes off.” Often dozes off means that Elaine might have a perfect IV in HP, right? “Likes sour food.”

“It says here that you doze off a lot.” I pointed at the Pokédex as I looked at Elaine.

Her cheeks began to redden as she furiously shook her head. “Vu! Vuhu!”

“Hey, don’t worry, I tend to do the same thing sometimes.” There were multiple times that I fell asleep in class. It was the worst in English, where I had to force myself to keep my eyes open every couple of seconds. It wasn’t boring, it was just warm and cosy in the classroom. I flipped to the next page.

“Health Points 19. Attack 7. Defence 9. Special Attack 11. Special Defence 9. Speed 9. Ability Trace.” Elaine’s stats. They seemed pretty standard for a Ralts, minus the buffed defence due to her nature. There could have been worse natures, a lot worse. “Growl 40/40 PP. Confusion 25/25 PP.” Elaine know confusion? Perfect! Confusion was the first move that a Ralts can learn that deals damage, which it learned at level six in the Sinnoh Pokémon games. However, it changed to level four in the later games.

Confusion was a fifty power, hundred accuracy psychic special attack that had a chance of confusing the target. Growl was a normal status move with a hundred accuracy that reduced the opponent’s attack by one stage. Elaine’s ability Trace meant that when she was sent out to battle, she gained the ability of the opposing Pokémon.

“Well, I guess I know a whole lot about you now.” I close the Pokédex and turn to Elaine. “It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t tell about myself wouldn’t it.”

“Vu!” She perked up.

“You think that’s a good idea?”

She nodded vigorously.

“I don’t think anyone has been that interested in me before. Hehe.” Should I tell her the whole truth? Yeah, she trusts me it’s only fair, and it’s not like she can tell anyone… yet. “My full name is Jack Harvey; you can still call me Jack. And… I’m not from Sinnoh. I come from a parallel universe where Pokémon only exist inside a video game.”

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