NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Chapter 1 - Transmigrated
"Ah, it's finally done downloading. They say on reddit that this Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Another World is a Hardmode version of PMD. Hope it doesn't disappoint."
Sitting behind his desktop, a lanky teenager fiddled with the keyboard while muttering to himself. The name of this teenager is Dante Zulueta. Dante is a 17 years old boy living in the Philippines.
Growing up in the era where the internet became popular, Dante was introduced to the concept of computer games early in his life. The Pokemon games, in particular, are his favorite among them.
His family is not particularly poor or rich, but his father was able to buy a secondhand PC for their family even during the days when computers were not that mainstream in their country.
Because the specs of the computer were not high, he was not able to play much of the latest games. However, his older cousin introduced to him the GBA and DS emulators, which allowed him to play hundreds of games using just two applications.
Fast-forward to the present, Dante has been able to play more sophisticated games like Valorant and League of Legends. However, Dante still preferred playing Pokemon games.
Pokemon, being a very popular game, also had many fan-made versions.
There are those that added their own Pokemon designs in their game, some had a more optimized and harder gameplay, and some that implemented the changes from later games into the old ones.
Dante is currently trying a fan made Pokemon game that was based on the DS Pokemon game, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
Its name is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Another World, and is said to have an increased difficulty from the original, as well as Pokemons from Gen 6 to 8 being present.
Opening the game, Dante waited with anticipation. After watching the opening scene which is the same as the original, Dante clicked on "New Game".
Dante was given the option between Vanilla and Expert difficulty, and he chose Expert without hesitation.
"If I choose Vanilla, I might as well just play the original version."
Muttering to himself, Dante read the introduction and was finally taken to the question and answer portion of the game.
[Are you a boy or a girl? You are a…]
After clicking boy, Dante was suddenly taken to the Pokemon selection screen.
"Nice! Looks like I don't have to save and reload in order to get my favorite starter. Now, let's see what they have."
- ⚦ Scorbunny
- ⚦ Alolan Vulpix
- ⚦ Deerling
- ⚦ Trapinch
- ⚦ Tepig
- ⚦ Espurr
- ⚦ Cranidos
- ⚦ Mienfoo
- ⚦ Magikarp
- ⚦ Popplio
- ⚦ Rowlet
- ⚦ Zorua
- ⚦ Snivy
- ⚦ Hisuian Zorua
- ⚦ Fennekin
- ⚦ Oshawott
Seeing Hisuian Zorua, Dante was instantly delighted. Zorua was one of his favorite pokemon. After the Hisuian version was released, he instantly fell in love with its design.
Its stats are hyper specialized in the main game, being built like a glass cannon, but all stats can be maxed using gummies in this game anyway. And its Normal and Ghost typing means that only Dark type moves are super effective against it. Meanwhile, its typing also makes it immune to Normal, Fighting, and Ghost type moves while having resistance to Poison and Bug moves.
It is an especially good typing for early and mid game when he still doesn't have access to Croagunk's swap shop.
After choosing Hisuian Zorua, Dante was taken to the options for the partners:
- ⚦ Togepi
- ♀ Buneary
- ♀ Espurr
- ♀ Deerling
- ⚦ Rowlet
- ⚦ Scorbunny
- ♀ Alolan Vulpix
- ⚦ Elekid
- ⚦ Trapinch
- ⚦ Tepig
- ♀ Amaura
- ⚦ Cranidos
- ♀ Sandshrew
- ⚦ Magikarp
- ⚦ Pikachu
- ♀ Snivy
- ⚦ Zorua
- ⚦ Mienfoo
- ♀ Hisuian Zorua
- ♀ Fennekin
- ⚦ Oshawott
Seeing the choices, Dante was tempted to pick Hisuian Zorua again but refrained from it in the end. After thinking for a while, Dante is still not able to decide which of the partners to pick.
"Ugh, almost everyone is good. I'll just use spin the wheel to decide which to choose. I'll just remove the Normal types so it won't overlap with Zorua."
Dante placed the names of the remaining viable partners in a spin-the-wheel website. The pointer landed on Pikachu and Dante hesitated.
Pikachu is already present in the original version of the game, and it feels like a waste to choose it in this playthrough. However, thinking about how much time he already wasted in the partner selection screen, he still chose it in the end.
Electric types are also good, with Thunder Sphere obtained from Croagunk negating their weakness to ground types.
Comforting himself in his heart, Dante stretched his arms and back in preparation of finally starting the game. Dante was surprised when the computer screen suddenly went black.
"Ugh, the computer crashed again!?"
Opening his cellphone and checking the time, he found that it's already past midnight. He sighed, put his phone down, unplugged the PC and got to bed.
"I'll just go to bed early to wake up earlier. Hopefully, the computer can rest for enough time."
Thinking so to himself, his head hit the pillow and sounds of snoring soon came from the room.
…
Dante was awoken to a feeling of being nudged in the arm. Opening his eyes and blinking away the sleep, he looked at their dog that was poking his arm.
"Luna, I thought you'd outgro- WHAT?!"
Dante's eyes widely opened as he saw that it was not their dog that was nudging him. But instead he saw a Yorkshire terrier with black fur on its back, a mustache, and a brown body. It tilted its head at Dante, who was looking back at it, dumbstruck.
Footsteps suddenly came from outside the room and a middle aged woman with a red bob cut hair came at the doorstep.
"Dante, what's wrong?"
Hearing the voice and looking at the familiar figure outside, Dante breathed a sigh of relief.
"Nothing ma, I was just surprised. When did we have a new dog? And when did you dye your hair? It matches you."
Dante replied while squatting down and ruffling the hair of the said 'new' dog. It sat on its butt while letting Dante scratch the top of its head. Meanwhile, Dante's mother scrunched her eyebrow, looking at her son and replying with a weirded out voice.
"We had Herdier living with us for 3 years now. And this is my natural hair color. Are you okay, son?"
Dante was shocked when he heard his mother's words. Especially when he heard the name 'Herdier', a Pokemon that looks exactly like the dog in his hands right now.
Standing up and looking at his mother's gaze, Dante suppressed his urge to question his mother about what she just said.
"I'm fine, ma. I think I'm just confused from staying up late last night and being awake too early."
"I told you, don't stay up too late playing games. It's bad for your health. Especially your eyes, staring at the screen all day…"
Ignoring the rest of his mother's words through acquired practice, Dante just nodded his head until his mother finished lecturing and got ready downstairs. Herdier barked, licked his hands, and then proceeded to follow Dante's mother.
Dante sat on his bed and reached out for his phone. Opening it and checking the internet. He was surprised by what he saw on the news. 'Who's That Pokemon?', 'Tales between Gardevoir and I', 'Latias and Latios spotted in Venice, Italy?'.
'Same country name but with news of Pokemon sightings around the world, did I transmigrate into a parallel world with Pokemons?!'
Thinking about all his favorite Pokemons and his being able to interact with them, Dante felt giddy.
In addition to playing low resolution games, Dante spent most of his time watching anime, reading manga, fantasy books and fanfiction. And him being a teenager, there are countless times that he dreamt of transmigrating into anime worlds to become the protagonist.
After a period of excitement, Dante then began to think about his family and friends in his original world. And then, he began to doubt this mother that looks and acts exactly like his mother from the original world.
Opening his messenger, he saw that he was in a group chat exactly the same as in his world. Dante searched around the internet (called Pokenet in this world) for a while and finally got his answer.
The development of the history of this world looks roughly the same as in his. It all began to diverge when portals appeared that contain Pokemons in the 1900s.
Instead of World War I, the war between Pokemon and Humans happened which lasted for decades. Checking his Facebook and Messenger history, he can see that there is not much deviation between the virtual history of Dante of this world and his world. Well…except for one thing.
'Why do I have white and red hair in this world? Both my parents also have red and white hair. My friends and classmates also have more colorful hairstyles. Do anime rules regarding hair color work here?'
Shaking off the circumstance of hair color in this world, he checked his Facebook timeline and truly confirmed that the history of his life in this world was the same as his previous world.
'So instead of saying that I transmigrated to a parallel world, it is more appropriate to say that I either replaced or switched with myself in a parallel world? Parallel world me, if you replaced myself in my world, I wish you the best of luck.'
After blessing his parallel self, Dante started walking downstairs. Looking around the house, he was amazed at how similar it is from his world.
The house is a two-story building with an area of about 6 x 7 square meters.
The first floor is mainly divided between the living room and kitchen that is partitioned by the table. The stairs are on the left side, which is adjacent to the bathroom.
The 2nd floor is divided into 3 rooms, one big bedroom for his parents and 1 room for him, and another vacant room for storing things.
His father sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast while tapping on the phone. Mother sat beside him, also on her phone watching the news. His siblings are most likely still asleep or playing on the computer. Looking up from his phone, his Father waved at him
"Hey champ, ma told me about you being amnesiac this morning. I told you, stop playing games so late, it damages your brain."
Dante just nodded along, pretending to listen while still thinking about his current circumstances.
'Except for the hair color and the presence of Pokemon, my life here seems pretty much exactly the same. The only problem should be the Pokemon classes.
'With Pokemon being a huge part of our society, it's almost mandatory in all schools to include Pokemon classes in the curriculum. I'm lucky we've just finished the final examination in high school, but I really need to study more about Pokemon for the college entrance examination.'
Dante prepared his breakfast of rice and omelette then sat down at the table.
His father's lecture has already stopped and he goes back to looking at the phone. At the middle of eating breakfast, his mother suddenly asked him something.
"Honey, how's your college application going? Have you already decided on what course to take?"
"I'm still thinking about it ma. I'm still not sure what kind of profession I want for the future."
Of course what he just said was a lie. Although before his transmigration, he and the Dante of this world really wasn't sure about their future, but the existence of Pokemon and his love for them already had him decide on the kind of future he wants.
"Well, I do hope you choose to become a doctor. You'll be the first doctor in our family. Ohh, I always wanted to become a doctor when I was young. But of course, you can choose whatever course you want, honey."
"Sure ma, but I want to take on a Pokemon-related course more."
"What course isn't related to Pokemon nowadays? You'll work with Chansey's and Audino's if you choose to become a doctor. Those cute little things, aaahhh I really want to hug them."
Looking at his mother lost in her fantasies, Dante fell into deep thought.
According to his mother's words, every profession should have integrated Pokemon in their operation. He doesn't have enough knowledge of this world yet to make any decision regarding the path he wants to take for his future.
After finishing eating and washing the dishes, Dante pats Herdier and then heads up to his room in order to search for information regarding the world he lives in now.
Turning on the computer, he opened the browser and began searching for Pokemon-related professions. Looking at the most prominent profession that popped up, Dante instantly knew what he wanted to become in the future.
Pokemon Trainer.
A term for the profession of people that is responsible for the initial exploration of newly opened Pokemon Portals (PokePortals for short), as well as safeguarding the citizens from any wild Pokemon related harm, together with their Pokemon.
Their main job is to train Pokemon for battles and stand fighting on the frontline whenever the lives of the citizens are threatened due to Pokemon or other illegal Trainers.
Although other Pokemon-related professions such as Pokemon Breeder, Researcher, and Coordinator exist, Dante prefers Pokemon battling more.
In the other world, he had a period of time where he was obsessed about pokemon base stats, their movepool, abilities, best team compositions, and EV distribution in order to make the strongest Pokemon team.
And while he didn't really outgrow that phase, he chooses Pokemons for his team now based more on his preference and then figures out how to maximize their potential.
Looking at the requirements to become a Pokemon Trainer, Dante smiled. The threshold for becoming a Pokemon Trainer can be said to be very low.
As long as you possess a high school diploma and pass the official Pokemon Trainer examination, you are eligible to register an initial starter Pokemon.
From there, you can either take on the Pokemon Trainer course in a university, or just go train in the wild by yourself.
Either way, a Pokemon Trainer can only receive subsidies from the government after they proved themselves strong enough to take on a Gym challenge and get a Gym badge.
While becoming a Pokemon Trainer has a low threshold, it also has a very high ceiling.
From a Rookie trainer, Senior trainer, Gym-level trainer, an Elite Four, and finally the Champion which stands at the pinnacle of the country together with the Pokemon Association Chairman.
Even though most Trainers can only end up just becoming a Senior Trainer, the salary they can get is still a sizable amount.
Having made up his mind about the future, Dante began searching for what he should study in order to pass the official Pokemon Trainer examination.
There is still a month left before the graduation ceremony in the 2nd week of April. This was all the time period he had to study the Pokemon knowledge that he missed in his elementary and high school.