1-3

Arceus is a fucking asshole.

Anyone who knows Legendary Pokemon knows that most of them share that trait. In my case though, I was feeling that way out of personal rage.

I tumbled through a world of red lights, trying to reach my hands out for anything.

"You asshole!" I shouted into the void, getting no answers. I screamed it again, just to hear my voice in this empty space.

What the hell happened!?

------

My name is Mahmoud. Four months ago, I'd woken up in the Pokemon world. Yeah, just like that. No answers, no one to blame. Just me, in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, waking up in a Pokemon Center. I didn't even have my smartphone.

What was worse was that I'd woken up about 15 years younger than when I went to sleep.

Do you know how annoying it is to not only show up in another world, but to be a teenager again at the same time? I wasn't one of those guys who was obsessed with relieving their youth. Being an adult, having actual agency and power in my life, was something I didn't want to lose.

Instead, I was an overweight teenager again. Years of working out and building muscle, my large and glorious beard, all gone and replaced with my awkward teenage self. I was around 15 or 16ish. Just before I started taking care of myself. 

I spent that first hour I was awake staring at myself in the bathroom mirror, eyes tracing my olive-brown skin and brown eyes. I'd also lost height and muscle, all replaced by a paunchy stomach that wrestling practice and years of on and off workouts would slowly erase.

I eventually left the bathroom and the room set aside to see what the world looked like. 

It took about five seconds for me to realize where I was. It was right when the Onix rolled past.

He was massive. The boulders that made up his form were as wide around as I was tall. He went through the halls of the Pokemon Center with incredible grace, his body clacking together as he moved. He turned his head to look at me. In real life, those slanted eyes had a physical effect on me. The long spike on top of his head looked particularly lethal.

There's no doubt in my mind that anyone who had seen that would have done what I did. Slowly turn around and go back into my room, the Onix ignoring me as he continued to roll towards the small child calling him 'Danny'.

I'd been ROBbed. I was self-inserted. Or, in this case, inserted. 

I sat in bed for a bit, just taking in the feel of the blanket under my skin. It felt real. I pinched myself. Yep, real. I stared out the window. A Fletchling was watching me through the window, the bird Pokemon cocking his head to the side.

So yeah. My first day inserted into the Pokemon world was just me freaking out at the new situation I'd found myself in. In my home universe, I'd written a few Self-Insert fanfics. One of them even involved Pokemon quite heavily. That helped me a bit.

Once I got my bearings and stopped freaking out, I managed to find the bright side of things. Well, I also had to get used to the weird hair colors. What accident of genetics makes pink hair? Or makes all Nurse Joys and Officer Jenny's share the same appearance?

The Pokemon Center I woke up in was in the middle of Galar, the region that showed up in Sword and Shield. Basically Pokemon Europe. It was kind of funny, hearing Pokemon trainers talk in Scottish, British, and Irish accents. 

Sadly I hadn't gotten around to playing the Sword and Shield games, but I had one advantage. I'd been found in the woods with nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, and had spent time confused and asking dumb questions anyone would know. People assumed I was an amnesiac kid who knew nothing. I let them think that.

It let me get some free food, basic necessities, and my first Pokemon, gifted to me by a kind Nurse Joy who wanted to make sure I was protected. A Mudkip.

Mudkip was adorable. He had that big blue fin, the orange fins on his cheek, and it turned out that he liked my dumb jokes. 

I didn't start off having a goal other than survival. I'd come into the world of Pokemon at a time when peace was the only thing to worry about. I wasn't the main character of some crazy Isekai novel, I was a random guy. Two people, Victor and Gloria, they were the main characters. They'd stopped the bad guys, saved the day, and made a legend of their own. The other regions had been helped in similar ways. I wasn't about to save the world. It had been saved.

So I decided to enjoy myself. I was in the POKEMON world! Once the shock stopped, I realized what a crazy awesome situation I'd found myself in. I began by training Mudkip and myself, trying to get to a state of healthiness. I learned how to work with Mudkip, to fight in trainer battles. Galar didn't really have a training school the way the other regions did. But it had casual training.

I spent time building a team and enjoying the world. While I missed my family, I knew they were safe in my world. Without a way back, I decided to just keep training until I'd become good enough to draw the attention of Dialga or some other legendary who could travel the Multiverse.

But man. The Pokemon world is beautiful. There was an untamed look to it all, breathtaking buildings, incredible landscapes. Mudkip and I visited cities that looked like the sorts of places I'd only ever seen in travel magazines. I started in the south of Galar, in a small town called Postwick. From there, Mudkip and I started north, traveling through picturesque landscapes, past rivers, and lakes, buildings, a massive city that looked like a Steampunk artist had gone nuts. Then I got to an airport and spent all the money I'd gained boarding a plane to Sinnoh. If I wanted to find a way home eventually, I'd need to head to the place where the space-time warping Legendaries lived.

It was only when I reached Sinnoh that my journey really began. And I poured my money into my Pokemon team. Without having to worry about rent, I could spend my money on food, healing, and training. Mudkip was soon joined by a Slugma that I caught. Then a Mimikyu and a Gurdurr. I got my hands on a fossil and got it revived, a process that had been mastered decades ago (Seriously, these fuckers had perfected cloning technology and they didn't use it.) That got me Tyrunt, a rambunctious and selfish little guy that I loved dearly.

The last Pokemon I got was Alakazam. I'd been looking for a beater. As much as I loved my team, I knew I'd need some real power. So I found myself an idiot. He was a frustrated guy whose Alakazam wasn't listening to him, and selling it. I found him in the Pokemon world version of EBay, and immediately put every cent I had into buying it.

The Alakazam I got was a badass. He treated me more like a rambunctious teenager than anything. But I was fine with that. Time would get us to work together. 

But before I could get to working on my plans, Team Rainbow Rocket showed up in Sinnoh. The batch of morons were really just the last remnants of that team. An interdimensional team that had been created by the one Giovanni who hadn't gotten his ass kicked by a ten-year-old. And the second they showed up, I started hunting.

Interdimensional. As in, they had the tech to travel dimensions. I wanted it. I went after them with all the power I had.

The first Rainbow Rocket member I found was a grunt causing chaos in the streets of Veilstone City, wearing the familiar Rocket gear. He said something arrogant as his Raticate attacked a young woman. Gurdurr went after the Raticate, my arrogant fighting type smashing the rat with an I-beam.

And I punched the Rocket grunt in the face. I still think back on that fondly, the man staring at me in shock as he fell on his back, nose bleeding. "B-But you aren't supposed to punch other trainers!"

"You're literally attacking people in the streets. We aren't playing tournament rules, moron."

I imagine seeing a teenager beat the shit out of a crying grown man as a Raticate was turned into a tennis ball was a hilarious image.

Then, about a month after I started hunting them down… I found the device. A machine Rainbow Rocket was working on, trying to pierce the veil between worlds. A few beatdowns later, I tracked them to the caves near Oreburgh City. Me and my Pokemon rushed in as a group, fists and powers flying as we attacked them, the Grunts and their Pokemon trying to stop us. We found our way to the scientist making the device. The machine created a portal, and I got ready for a fight.

It was about then that I realized my mistake. In those four months, I'd forgotten one thing. Why had I shown up in the Pokemon world? What had brought me there?

Arceus showed up. And that motherfucker blew up the machine with a single Judgement blast, sending me tumbling through the dimensions.

Of all the convoluted fucking…

I pulled my Pokemon back into their balls just before he sent me into the portal. The last thing I saw before the red void was that smug drama llama staring at me with those wise eyes. Asshole.

And now I was cursing to myself while tumbling through nothingness.

------

"...The void is vast. Incredibly vast, stretching out into the horizon, farther and farther, entirely scarlet, until the mind begins to boggle at the insane size of it all… It's also boring as fuck."

I had my legs and arms crossed, sitting on nothing as I spun around and around in a world without gravity. I was scowling. Hard. All I had on me was my Pokeballs. I'd used all my potions except a couple full restores during my run through the cave. And unlike the Pokedex wielders, I didn't have a giant bag and a thousand sponsors to help me get a small armory of items.

And no, I wasn't bitter about those spoiled badass kids.

It was in the middle of my twisting dance across nothing that I felt a force pulling on 

me. I could barely feel it. But after about two hours flipping through nothingness, any change was obvious. The force I felt pushed me across the void. Or pulled me. It felt like both and neither at the same time.

"...If this doesn't send me to Earth, I'm going to lose my mind."

I hit the sidewall that did and didn't exist, because of course it had to be as confusing as the rest of the place, and went tumbling through the air.

It was about ten feet until my back slammed into the ground. Stars filled my vision as I sprawled then, scrambling and rubbing my butt and back in a vain attempt to chase away the pain.

"Ahhhhh!" I yelled in pain. "Son of a-AHHH!" I grit my teeth as I got up, looking around.

"...At least it's pretty," I said after a moment. The place I'd landed on had a perfect view of the ocean.

The sky was bright blue, with beautiful white clouds. The ocean sang as it crashed against a beach of black sand. At the edge of the beach was a forest of dark green trees, before the forest became a field of green grass. I was standing atop of a hill, letting me get a good look at it all. Another large hill was across from me, shining different shades of green from all the plants growing across it.

"...Am I in Alola?" I asked myself curiously.

It looked like the place, based on the pictures I'd seen. Same pretty beach. Same humidity.

I shrugged off the jacket I was wearing to protect me from Galar's chilly weather and rain, wrapping it around my waist. Then I took off Mudkip's Pokeball from my belt and popped it open.

The tiny mud fish Pokemon appeared in a flash of red light and the familiar 'snap-hiss!' of a Pokeball opening. He opened his eyes and looked around. On seeing me, his black eyes closed as he smiled.

"Mudkip, Mud!"

"Hey buddy," I couldn't help my smile. I kneeled down and rubber[a] Mudkip's head, scratching at the smooth skin next to his head fin. "We've got trouble…"

"Kip?" he asked curiously.

I patted my right shoulder. Mudkip hopped up there and held on as I stood up and looked around. "This look familiar to you?"

He shook his head.

"Damn. Well, Arceus," that dick llama. "Sent us through the portal… Why?"

Mudkip and I shared a confused look. He sighed and shook his head, pointing his paw at the valley behind the beach.

"What, you want to go down there?"

Mudkip nodded. "Kip, Mudkip."

Four months of interactions made it practically second nature to understand Pokemon language, a combination of body language and tone.

In this case, Mudkip had a point. There were buildings down in the valley. And honestly, it made more sense to try and find out where we were while we discussed things. Multitasking.

I assure you, the language Pokemon use is capable of doing a lot with a few moves and sounds.

With a plan in mind, I started marching. Wherever we were, at least it was civilized. There were houses, some signs of farming, and a car rolling along. While cars weren't quite as popular as Pokemon for traveling, they were still used by those who didn't have bigger Pokemon to travel with.

Mudkip and I talked as we walked. "We were traveling for months, Mud. Months. Fighting every Rainbow Rocket we could get out hands-on in the Sinnoh region. Why, after all that, does Arceus show up out of nowhere and shove us through a portal?"

"Kip."

"I really doubt we did anything new to draw his attention… Or maybe he's the ROB?"

Enough time with Mudkip had led the small water to understand my slang. He frowned thoughtfully but said nothing as he looked around curiously.

We walked for a little longer before reaching a road, which I started following. We continued for several minutes, taking in the views around us. The place really was pretty. After Sinnoh and Galar's chillier climates, sunshine and the smell of the ocean in the distance gave me a skip in my step. 

A truck passed us, a brown-skinned man with a straw hat and a Hawaiian shirt on driving it. He gave me and Mudkip an odd look. Mudkip waved at the man, who slowly waved back, almost swerving off the road he was so distracted.

"Mudkip?" my buddy asked.

"I don't know, man. People are weird wherever they are."

With that little bit of philosophy, I continued into the valley. We passed a few houses and people working in fields, who ignored us entirely. Soon, I saw something interesting. A tourist shop. Granted, it was called 'Waipio Valley Artworks', but I knew a tourist shop when I saw it.

I walked up, ignoring a man seated at a table as he smoked a cigar. There was a newspaper stand there. Pretty damn old school, but welcome. The man smoking a cigar stared at me as I walked up the newspaper stand. I looked at it, ready to place some Pokémon Dollars in it.

I stopped, staring. Rather than the familiar symbol I'd gotten used to next to the price there was a dollar symbol. A symbol from my world. For the currency I'd used back home.

My heart stopped, then started again, pumping harder. The thought consumed me. Home. I was home again. I stared at the symbols before me, eyes dropping to the newspaper being sold. The newspaper was called the 'Star-Advertiser'. The date was March 2nd… 2010!? I was sent back in time! What the hell?

Then I saw the headline. 

"Superman Prevents Eruption!"

"..." Mudkip stared between me and the newspaper. I stepped back and sat down on the floor.

The man with the cigar took a puff. "So. What is that, a mutated dog or something?"

"Or something… You ever heard of Batman?"

"That urban legend?" the man asked.

I thought so.

"Fuuuuuuuuuu-"

Chapter 2

"-uck," I stared at the newspaper before me, then looked at Mudkip. He cocked his head to the side cutely, curious as to why I was freaking out. "Come on bud. We need to figure shit out."

Ignoring the man with the cigar again, we left to head towards the beach. Once we got there, I took stock of things.

"Okay, Mudkip. The world we're in is called the DC universe… or one of them. I think."

"Mudkip."

"Look, I know it's confusing, but there's like fifty-two different DC universes… Well, more like 104 if you include the dark multiverse."

"Mudkip?"

"Doesn't matter. In the end, no matter what DC universe we're in, we'd have the same problem. Food, water, shelter, and figuring out what to do from there."

In some ways, it was to my benefit that I'd been dropped into another world already. I had experience on my side. That and the fact I'm a huge damn nerd. First, I had to think about where I'd found myself.

Hawaii. I'd never been here before, though like a lot of people I'd dreamed of it. Only so many times you can rewatch cinematic masterpieces like Johnny Tsunami without wanting to visit the place. At least Hawaii was civilized. I mean, there were still some sections of wild territory I could hide in, but at least they had milkshakes.

Actually, milkshakes brought up something else. Namely, money to buy the milkshakes. I had 3000 Pokemon Dollars. All completely useless now. 

"Mudkip," I looked down at my bud. He raised an eyebrow at me. Then he looked at one of the Pokeballs on my belt. One I always felt reluctant to open.

"...He's going to be so damn smug," I said.

Mudkip sighed, giving me a little look.

I sighed in return, reaching for my belt and popping off the Pokeball, snapping it open. He appeared in a bright red flash before me.

"Alakazam!" he cried proudly. The Pokemon before Mudkip and I was about a foot shorter than me, with brown fur going from dark to pale across his body, and two long protrusions coming off his nose that looked like a mustache. His three-fingered hands each clenched a spoon. He looked around for a moment. Then his eyes met mine.

I felt a mind press against my own, the telepathic touch not invasive, but questioning. With a bit of a grimace, I let him in.

"What have you done, young one?" the voice said in the tone of an ancient elder admonishing a student. Well, I say voice. Really, it was his thought-speak, his mental thoughts being conveyed directly into my mind. Only Pokemon who had a strong psychic power could do it.

"I've had fuck-all to do with this," I said with a scowl. "Here."

I sent a mental image of what had happened, trying to convey it as clearly as I could.

"As ever, your thoughts are a chaotic mess," Alakazam said with some admonishment. "However, I see what you mean. Much like my world, this one was seen through the lens of fiction in yours… I have to wonder if Team Rainbow Rocket was attempting to access this world, or if Lord Arceus was sending us here."

"My money is on that llama," I said immediately. "Explains how I showed up in the Pokemon world from the start."

Alakazam nodded. "...You have already come upon the problem we must solve. Survival. We are in this world, whatever the circumstances. You have experience with similar places."

"Not Hawaii," I said with some trepidation. "I don't remember anything about the islands."

"A failing of your world's education, I'm sure," Alakazam ignored my glare. "Then we must discover what we can. Without a flying Pokemon on our team, we are left with much more simple forms of reconnaissance."

"Hopefully we're on the Big Island," I said without thinking. I blinked thoughtfully at that. Oh right. I guess I knew a few things about Hawaii, if only from random facts overheard as the years passed, like someone in the Netherlands knowing a few things about Ireland.

"You will need to speak to those who live here, then," Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back, shaking his head. "Get your bearings. If this world truly is a DC universe, we will have enemies we may need to fend off."

"Not likely. Even with you guys, I'm probably going to end up being just one more random guy trying to help, not someone enemies will try to hunt down," my time in the Pokemon world had beaten any concept of how 'special' I was out of me.

"Don't be foolish," Alakazam narrowed his eyes at me. "You may be random. I and your Pokemon are not."

Fair point. Cloning was depressingly common in comics. And Pokemon had DNA, whatever their fantastic powers. For a moment, I thought of Rainbow Rocket. Those guys may have been chumps, but a few Pokemon had been enough to make them dangerous. I could knock those guys out with a couple of punches, but their Machops and Haunters would tear me apart. 

Whatever. That wasn't the issue right now.

"Alakazam, can you stay here and make some sort of shelter with Gurdurr?"

"You want me to do grunt work?" he asked pointedly. 

"Wouldn't be talking so big if I had gym badges," I grumbled to myself. "And no, I'm not asking you to build it specifically. I'm asking you to keep my favorite construction worker from going nuts."

Alakazam narrowed his eyes. Then he twisted his spoons around before placing them at his waist. "Good point. Then I would suggest we go somewhere more secluded," his voice echoed in my mind. "If Hawaii is as much of a tourist trap as you believe it to be, then I am most surprised we haven't been seen yet."

"..." Mudkip and I shared a look.

"You've already been seen. With a Pokemon," Alakazam sighed. "Very well. Summon the architect."

I grabbed Gurdurr's Pokeball and popped it open. As he was summoned, he twirled his weapon of choice in his hands, a large steel I-beam.

"Gur, GURDURR!" he roared as loud as he could, crowing his dominance to the world.

"Quiet down, you steel-brained buffoon!" 

"Calm down," I told Alakazam. "If you sensed someone nearby, you would have told us."

He gave me the sort of look my dad used to when he thought I wasn't getting the point.

"Gurdurr," the rambunctious fighting type stuck his tongue out at Alakazam, then laughed happily.

"You are my least favorite person," Alakazam said with a shake of his head.

Gurdurr stuck his tongue out at him again.

"Get along you two," I said with some trepidation at this duo I was trying to get to work together. "Gurdurr. We need somewhere to live," a glint came into his eyes. "Nothing crazy! Just something temporary. As long as it can block some rain and cold," I looked around the sky. "It looks pretty early in the morning, but I'd rather have the place ready in case Hawaii decides to start a storm."

Not much risk of that, considering how beautiful the day looked, but you never knew. 

"...Gur."

"No, it doesn't need a pool."

"Gur, Gur."

"Look, you can add in rooms to a building later, but this needs to be TEMPORARY. Extremely so! It doesn't need a cathedral spire."

Gurdurr gave me a look like I was asking him to betray everything he stood for. 

"Dude, we'll build something crazy later," I said with a sigh. Seriously, Gurdurr's were supposed to be obsessed with demolition. Why was mine the only one who loved creating things? And why was that somehow more of a problem?

"We will take care of it," Alakazam said while raising his spoons high. Gurdurr and him traded a brief glare before they nodded at me.

I hesitated for a moment. Then I sighed and nodded. "Come on Mudkip."

"Would it not be better to carry him in his Pokeball?" Alakazam asked pointedly as Mudkip hopped onto my shoulder again.

"If I get jumped by Doomsday falling out the sky, I'd rather have my tiny water cannon out and ready to fight back."

"If Doomsday showed up, you'd die."

"But not as fast if Mudkip is around. He'll go back in by the time we get near people. Right now, I want to make sure we avoid getting blindsided."

"Kip!" Mudkip said with some pride in his voice.

Alakazam sighed as Mudkip and I walked off.

------

Mudkip slipped back into his Pokeball once we were close to our destination. I went back to the tourist shop, entering inside confidently. I walked up to the cashier, a bored looking older Hawaiian man who had a white t-shirt on. The store was interesting inside. I could see dozens of handmade items, from vases, to bowls, to small Hawaiian paintings and other art. There were also a lot of pictures of the area, with spectacular views of the beach two Pokemon were currently bickering on.

"Aloha," the cashier said with a small smile as I walked in. "What can I do for you, kane?"

"Kane?" I blinked, surprised.

"Means man, boy," the Hawaiian man said with a grin. "You need help looking around?"

"Not really," I said while walking up to him. "I'm actually a bit lost."

"Ah," he looked outside. "You can't find your parents, eh?"

Oh right. I'm in a teenage body. Fucking…

"Nothing like that," I said with a grimace. "It's more that I've been hiking for a while, so I wanted to know if you had a map I could take a look at?"

"Ah," the man nodded, apparently used to dumb tourists getting lost around here. "I gotcha, kane. Here," he turned and rummaged through some stuff before pulling out a map and taking a look at it. 

As he did, I linked my mind to Alakazam's. He paused in keeping Gurdurr from building a second story to look through my eyes. It was a trick we'd figured out. Alakazam. One of the smartest Pokemon in existence. And capable of memorizing everything he ever read. Good way to take advantage of that power was to have him do it through my eyes.

As the map was passed to me, I held my gaze steady on it. The man helpfully pointed at one section of the map. "We're right here. The beautiful Waipio Valley!"

"It's a gorgeous place, that's for sure," I agreed, getting a proud smile from the man. 

I took a closer look at the map. We were on the Big Island, the largest section of Hawaii. Well, we were a VERY long way off from home. In more ways than one. If I remembered correctly, it was also not very densely populated. It had a lot of people, but not as many as a place it's size could contain. Which meant I had more of a shot at hiding around here. Nice.

"Thanks for the help," I told the man with a smile.

"Sure you don't need anything else?" he said in the tone of a man hoping for a customer.

"I'm good. I might come back soon though," I said quickly, lying as I rushed out of the door. Just then I realized something and stepped back through the door. "By the way, you know Batman?"

"The superhero?" the cashier said, surprised. When I nodded, he grinned. "Yeah, he's on the Justice League, right?"

"Your man out there thinks he's an urban legend," I said with a chuckle, nodding towards the older man outside still smoking his cigar.

"That's Akamai," the cashier rolled his eyes. "Probably doesn't care about anything outside the valley. He still thinks the Civil War was yesterday."

I grinned at that. I knew the type. With a final wave, I headed out.

I walked fast until I was out of sight of people, then brought Mudkip back out.

"We might be better off than I thought," I said to my water bud, stopping to let him back onto my shoulder before I continued walking. "This place may be a tourist hotspot, but if we had to pick a place to hide out on the islands, we've got a chance."

The Big Islands would have lots of wilderness for us to dip into. I didn't have to worry as much about my Pokemon getting kidnapped and cloned, or worse. Not yet, anyways. In the last world, the goal I'd settled on was finding a way to my Earth. Being in DC didn't change that goal. In some ways, it made it both easier and harder. While transdimensional technology in this world was relatively common, it was also guarded by the sorts of people you wouldn't want to mess with.

My right hook and Pokemon could handle things in the world of Pokemon. Most grunts hadn't learned how to fight to the level of martial artists, and I could depend on my Pokemon to take down the superhuman threats.

DC, on the other hand, was chock-full of bad guys who were either martial artists training to kill you with a flies wing, tech geniuses with power armor, or people who used the forces of the universe to crush buildings. Or all three, if you were phenomenally unlucky.

I was pretty sure I was phenomenally unlucky. I'd do my best to build up to hunting down a way to travel home. For right now, the goal was survival.

Mudkip and I got back to the beach after another long walk, finding the secluded section Alakazam and Gurdurr had chosen for our temporary abode. Gurdurr was working on a roof now, tying fronds together. I felt some relief that Alakazam had succeeded in his goal of holding Gurdurr back from going too crazy.

The house he'd made was built with wood, put together so it was a single room large enough for all of us. It must have taken little more than an hour, considering how long the walk was from the beach to the tourist shop. The magic of Pokemon vitality and strength.

"Nice job buddy," I said to Gurdurr.

"...Gurdurr," he said in disappointment. 

I sighed. "I know. Don't worry, next time I ask you to build something, you'll be able to go all out," he gave me a narrow-eyed look. "I promise."

He gave me a bright smile at that, nodding. With more enthusiasm, he tied the final piece of the roof, finishing off the house.

"Now, I believe sustenance will be necessary," Alakazam pointed out, the elder Pokemon floating on air, his legs crossed, spoons spinning over his palms. 

"I regret wasting my last Lava Cookie while we were fighting in those damn caves," I grumbled. Team Rainbow Rocket really loved their damn poison-types. A Tentacruel had hit me with a Toxic while I'd been choking out his trainer. I'd had to toss her aside and chow down on the restorative pastry to cure the poison coursing in my body.

By the way, Lava Cookies in the Pokemon world are rice crackers. Not cookies with melted chocolate in them. Disappointing. Still delicious, but disappointing.

"Focus," Alakazam admonished me. I sighed and nodded.

"Mudkip, go ahead and head out into the ocean. We'll need some fish. Enough for all of us."

Mudkip nodded firmly, hopping off my shoulder and rushing into the waves, barking excitedly before disappearing under the water.

In the meantime, I pulled out another Pokeball and snapped it open.

In a flash of red light, a small creature appeared. She was red, shaped like a slug, with cute little eyes and a big smile. The tiny thing blinked slowly, looking around as she started moving around. When she saw me, she smiled affectionately.

"Slugma!"

"Hey, girl," I smiled at her and rubbed her head. Slugma felt so warm. Not quite burning, but enough to feel it. "We're gonna need a fire soon."

"You're using a living creature of magma as a lighter," Alakazam said with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm working with my friends to find a way to survive the day, yes."

He didn't say anything to that, only chuckling.

Slugma let out a cute gurgle as she accepted headpats. I looked over at Gurdurr. "I'm going to imagine that you made a chimney in there."

He had the decency to look embarrassed. 

"It's fine. Can't stop you from showing off entirely."

"Gur."

"Slugma, can you go light it?"

"Slug!" she said happily, going over to enter the house, Gurdurr watching her nervously as she left a trail of burning leaves.

"I believe, Mahmoud, you are forgetting a few things."

I didn't reply to him, knowing he'd say what was on his mind soon.

"We were sent here by Arceus… Here. Of all places in this world," Alakazam pointed out slowly. "Why this place? Why this time? I know you. While you are proactive in most aspects of life, you do not enter battle unless prompted."

I looked out into the ocean for a moment, thinking. Alakazam watched me, our minds pressed against one another. Then he backed away.

He was right. There had to be a reason I was in Hawaii. In the DC universe. I wrote a fanfic similar to this once upon a few months ago, though the memory of what that story had entailed escaped me now. This was different though. Why had I been sent here?

I pondered that for a moment longer, staring out at the sun beating down on the ocean and beach.

------

Mudkip brought back a bevy of fish that I didn't know the names of, making sure to get some seaweed while he was at it. The little guy was always worried I didn't eat enough greens. 

Slugma had a small fire lit very quickly, so I was soon cooking fish and squid over a flame. With the food cooking, I released my last two Pokemon.

First, my dinoboy.

"Tyrunt!" the miniature T-Rex let out a roar as ferocious as he could make. Which, despite his cuteness, was pretty darn ferocious. He was about the size of a large dog, with most of his body being his massive jaws. He looked around at us, taking in the wooden shelter we were in. Then he smelled the food. Narrowing his eyes, he prowled toward a large fish currently steaming over the fire. "Tyyyyyyy."

"Not even going to say hi?" I said with a grin.

He looked over at me. "...Tyrunt."

Then he looked back at the food, salivating.

I chuckled. Before I could pop the last Pokeball, Mudkip did it for me. My last Pokemon sat briefly on the sand, her yellow outfit flopped over. After a bit, she stood up, her costume popping into its full height. Two long yellow ears with black tips perked up as she looked up at me with her real eyes, two fake ones on the head of her disguise cocking to the side. She cooed at the sight of me, zipping forward to hug my leg.

"Mimikyu!" she chirped.

I bent down and gently rubbed her back. Mudkip hopped over to join us, bumping his head with hers, getting a pleased sound from her. "Hey, girl. We're in a weird spot."

Slugma and Gurdurr walked over to greet Mimukyu, the disguised Pokemon preening at the attention. I sat in the sand and reached to take the fish and squid out of the fire, only for it to float over to me. Alakazam. He spread it out so everyone had a large portion, then we got to eating. As I chewed into some squid, I broke down my plan.

"Here's the idea. First, I wanna head somewhere with a volcano."

Slugma was circling around us. Thanks to her body's physiology, if she stopped moving, she would begin to cool, eventually breaking apart. Thus why she continued to strafe around us while happily eating. At me mentioning volcanoes though, she perked up.

"Yep. We're going jewel hunting," I said easily. "If we head out to the right place we can get something nice. Alakazam?"

"There are some places we may be able to look," Alakazam stroked his mustache. "I will need more information, however. The map that you saw was sadly not informative on active volcanoes."

"We'll head to a town first then," I stroked my chin. For a moment, I missed my beard. As a teenager, all I had was some tiny wisps. "One with a library, or at least internet connection. Find out a bit more about Hawaii. We'll need a raft. Thankfully, I played a video game that taught me how to build that."

"You are saying that specifically to annoy me."

"Little bit. Jokes aside, you feel like giving us a tug?" I asked Mudkip.

Mudkip nodded, eyes sparkling. "Mudkip, Mud!"

Then in that case. "Tyrunt," the small dinosaur looked up at me, his mouth full. It was adorable. "You'll need to stay in your Pokeball for the foreseeable future," he stared at me, surprised. "Just for now. You and Gurdurr."

Gurdurr jumped, annoyed. Tyrunt and Gurdurr let out twin sounds of anger and disappointment.

"Guys, we'll be on a raft, in the middle of water. Tyrunt, you're too heavy. And Gurdurr, you haven't learned how to swim."

Both stilled at that. Tyrunt cocked his head. Then he looked over at Slugma. She was still circling.

"Yeah, Slugma too," I said with some discomfort. Half my team was going to be useless out on the water. Well, not useless. Gurdurr could technically fight really damn well if he had a solid boat to work on. But not a rickety ass raft, where he might fall into a raging ocean and drown.

Better to stick with those who would survive.

Slugma burbled a sound, her sadness clear. Mimikyu went up and hugged her friend, the two girls resting against each other for a moment.

"For now, bed," I said with a sigh. "Tomorrow, we'll head out and find a way to get to the right place. Slugma?"

The small lava monster nodded. She pressed her forehead to Mimikyu before backing up to look at me. I raised my Pokeball and pulled her back into it in a flash of red light.

Slugma, sadly, could never spend as much time with me as the others. She could never sleep. The only rest she could get was in her Pokeball. Anything else meant death.

I pushed the melancholy thought away and laid down on a bed of leaves. Tyrunt rushed to my left side, resting his head along my arm, his tail landing on my belly. Mudkip went to my right, my arm wrapping around him.

Mimikyu carefully removed her Pikachu costume, hanging it up on a random piece of wood sticking out of the wall. I carefully hid my horror at the sight of her true form. While I'd seen it a lot since getting her, I could still never get used to it. She was still cute, but somehow her body filled me with terror as well. She hopped onto my chest and wrapped long eldritch arms around me, letting out horrifying contented sighs.

Alakazam floated on a telekinetic wave of power, his spoons floating over his palms. Gurdurr strode over to the door, carrying his steel I-beam.

"Not going to sleep?" I asked Gurdurr.

He looked back at me. Then he raised his I-beam and slammed it endfirst into the sand, embedding it next to him. "Gurdurr."

He would guard us while we slept.

I frowned. Finally I nodded. "Okay… Wake me in thirty minutes, okay?"

Gurdurr nodded firmly.

The last thing I heard before sleeping were the snores of my infant T-Rex, and the sounds of Gurdurr and Alakazam speaking peacefully.

Chapter 3

I didn't waste time the next morning. I had learned to work fast when I could. The goal of survival still existed. To that end, we needed money. Which meant getting the raft done, heading to a town, and finding a volcano for Slugma to swim in for valuable minerals. 

Tyrunt, Gurdurr, and Mudkip helped to gather branches we needed. Tyrunt used his powerful jaws to cut through thick branches, Mudkip pulled them together into tight bundles, and Gurdurr carried them to the beach. As the three physically strongest Pokemon I had, they were perfect for the job. I was glad I'd spent as much money as I could on Protein vitamins for the trio.

Once the branches got to the beach, Slugma got to work. Being a fire-type, she had little to no issue making sure the branches were smooth, shaping them a bit where they'd been cut a little off.

Once we had enough branches, Mimikyu happily toddled over to them, reaching out from under her costume with long shadowy arms. She separated the branches out, humming to herself as she created piles of thin, thick, and thicker sticks. 

"Mimi, mimimi, Mikikyu!"

"Slug, mamama, Slugma!"

The two tiny Pokemon sang happily together as they got their work done, a little bit off-key, but still having fun.

Gurdurr left the branch gathering group to join me. We got to work, pulling the logs together. We went for a simple design. The bottom had three strut… things? Which the platform would rest on top of, with a small shelter in the shape of a tent in case of rain.

Alakazam, in the meantime, kept us in contact mentally while he took vines in hand and twirled them together, keeping watch for anyone coming over. The plan was that if someone did come by, he'd hit them with a Confusion. Maybe excessive, but it would leave them off enough for him to lead them off. There had been no need for that thus far, thankfully.

He was also doing something far more important though. He was tying himself to the land. So that if we had to return, he could simply Teleport us.

That's how the move works in reality. A Pokemon who knows it meditates in one spot, focusing to make a location a new point in reality that they could return to with some passengers. It was insanely hard to do, taking time, energy, and effort, and necessary if he wanted to teleport anywhere that wasn't within his line of sight. It was why all he could do was keep watch and tie vines into ropes. I couldn't even comprehend how hard that sort of thing was.

Alakazam finished up the ropes, Gurdurr tying the raft together nice and tight. It was about 9 feet long and as wide as I was tall. Cramped. But I didn't need a cruise ship. I just needed a way to get from point-A to point-B.

Once we were done, I stood before the raft, grinning down at it. I had to take my shirt off in the heat and humidity, and wiped away the sweat from my forehead as I turned.

"Nice job guys," I said proudly.

Gurdurr placed his hands on his hips and puffed his chest. Tyrunt let out a small roar of noise, while Mimikyu and Slugma wiggled happily next to each other.

After a moment to enjoy their joy, I sighed. "Okay. Time to go."

Which meant those on my team who couldn't swim would need to enter their Pokeballs.

Slugma looked sad, but hugged Mudkip and Mimikyu, giving me a resigned look as I pulled her into her Pokeball. Tyrunt let out a gruff noise as I pet his head before I put him away, while Gurdurr twirled his I-Beam around before he was also pulled in, leaving me with Mudkip, Alakazam, and Mimikyu, who proceeded to get to work.

Alakazam, Mimikyu, and I hopped onto the raft, along with some of the fish we'd cooked last night. Mudkip went behind it and gave it a hard shove, his insane strength letting him push the raft outwards into the water with only two big shifts. As soon as we were afloat, Mudkip dived into the waves, swimming around us. I took a rope and tossed it to Mudkip, who grabbed it and wrapped it around his shoulders. Just like that, we were on our way, flying through the waves with Mudkip laughing a bit.

I sat down, shirt still off, and enjoyed the spray on my chest and face, while Mimikyu curled into my lap and Alakazam began to map out our route.

Times like that, watching the ocean ahead of me, a beautiful island to our side, with my Pokemon beside me, made me a lot happier to be where I was. I could just take in view, and be happy that I was, in some way, living a dream I'd had as a little kid. Traveling around the world with super strong animals in my pocket.

"It is rare that I sense contentment from you," Alakazam said, strolling over to me.

"Guess I should stop before I end up surprising you," I snarked.

Alakazam crossed his arms behind the small of his back. "I would rather you didn't. Your anger over your loss is justified. To be sent to a world that isn't yours cannot be easy. But I encourage you to continue finding happiness where you can, young one."

On hearing that, something occurred to me. I stroked my chin, looking up at Alakazam. "I forgot. You guys left your world as well, now…"

Mudkip tilted his head up to look at me. Mimikyu nuzzled closer to me, while Alakazam shrugged.

"Yes. I am hopeful that your efforts will bear fruit. Not just to find a way to freely enter and exit your world, but my own now."

"I'll uh," I slumped my shoulders. "I'll do my best, Alakazam."

"I know. Despite some of your deficiencies, a fear of hard work has not been one of them."

"Deficiencies, huh?"

"Oh yes, a multitude. But that is fine. It is better than my last master."

At that, I fell silent. After all, Alakazam wasn't a Pokemon I'd caught. He was one I'd bought. Sometimes, trainers and Pokemon just didn't fit together. That was a fact. And Pokemon wanted to fight alongside those that they worked with. Team synergy was important. After all, if weaker Pokemon and humans didn't work together, then society would have fallen apart in the world of Pokemon.

So what had led to Alakazam, one of the most powerful Pokemon I'd ever met, getting sold for money? What went wrong between him and his former trainer. I didn't know. Maybe I'd never know.

"I'm glad you're here, man."

"I am not. I believe this world will create trouble for us... But I am glad I have you."

------

The plan was simple. Get to a city. Then, do whatever I could to get information. Or more specifically, get Alakazam information.

I was already doing that, sharing what I could about DC universes I was familiar with. Mudkip listened as he pulled us along, Mimikyu resting her head while we went.

I talked about Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, about the monsters of the DC universe. Some of it was information he already had of course, we'd talked about my interests before. But with this stuff becoming relevant, a refresher wasn't a bad thing.

At some point though, Alakazam sensed the minds of humans nearby. I quickly wrapped my face up in my t-shirt, while Mimikyu woke up and hid under the shelter in the back of the raft, Alakazam joining her. Mudkip slipped under the raft.

Looking as though I was alone, I watched a boat slowly approach me. It was a fishing vessel at a guess, with an older woman at the helm. She gave me a wave. I returned it. And we continued on our way.

It was likely not going to be the last time we'd cross paths with other boats. Good thing we'd made plans for just that scenario.

Alakazam and Mimikyu came back out of the shelter, while Mudkip continued to pull us along. As he did, Mudkip poked his head out of the water.

"Mudkip?" he asked me.

I looked at him, trying to think of a way to answer. "If you'd asked me a few years ago, I might have said yes, I want to be a superhero. But right now I'm not thinking about that. I mean, if we end up finding people in trouble, I want to help, same as we did in your world. But actively becoming a hero isn't the goal right now."

"And if becoming one aided your goals?" Alakazam asked.

"Mimikyu," the small costumed nightmare looked between the three of us, the head of her costume bouncing with every turn of her head.

I sighed. "Becoming a superhero was a dream of mine. And I'd still kinda like to do it. But I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to do it," none of my Pokemon spoke. I think they knew I wanted to vent. "Maybe it's just years of having that dream beaten out of me by, you know, life. Or maybe it's reality reminding me of all the logistics required to be a hero. We'd need money, food, travel. Oh, and we'd need to put ourselves through sometimes literal hell."

"That's no exaggeration either. Rainbow Rocket had Pokemon to make themselves dangerous. But the bad guys in most DC universes I know… they're sometimes a kind of evil that I can't understate. Worse, a lot of the ones I'm worried about are competent. They know just what to do to fight back. To stay alive. And to kill. Rainbow Rocket would come at us laughing and parading around with an army of Pokemon. Deathstroke would take me out with a bullet from a mile away while I slept."

"...Still though…"

I rested back on my hands as I sat on the raft, looking out at the ocean.

We travelled for a long while in peace as the thought filled my mind.

------

We reached my destination soon enough, a section of beach near where we were trying to get to. We put the raft near the beach. Then I put Mudkip and Mimikyu away.

This place was going to have people. No matter how few, I couldn't take the risk they would be seen. The last thing we needed is some smarmy scientist or alien lover trying to figure out what the strange creatures were. No matter what Lilo and Stitch taught me, people wouldn't believe me if I just told them Mudkip was a dog. 

Alakazam, however, I left out of his Pokeball to wait with the raft. I needed his ability to see through my eyes and memorize whatever I saw. He saw me off without a word, but I felt his mind pressed to mine as I walked away.

The small town of Honokaa, a tiny place of around 2000, was a long walk from the beach. Thankfully, my time in the Pokemon world had gotten me used to hiking. Four months of walking and fighting had made my pudgy teenage body into one that was a lot more built for hard labor. I walked past a lot of homes and businesses, but a lot of the place was just open fields and bits of rainforest. It was kinda awesome, how nature blended together with civilization. I avoided streets as much as I could, sticking to nature as much as possible.

I finally reached the town after a 2 mile hike, relatively short. After some quick questions, I found someone who pointed out the way to the library, which was apparently across the street from the high school. Perfect.

Honokaa was thankfully small enough that I didn't meet too many people in the streets as I walked towards the library. I ended up across the street from the high school, and stopped to look over it. Apparently class was not in session, because kids were out and playing in the schoolyard. I chuckled at the sight of the kids playing together, hanging out, talking with friends, and eating. Must have been lunchtime. Had I ever been that young?

Then I looked down at my teenage body, winced, and entered the library.

Inside the library was similar to others I'd been in, with the same basic layout, wooden bookshelves, and the good old Dewey Decimal System in place. A librarian gave me a hard look as I entered, which I ignored. I simply walked in and headed directly to the computers. Thankfully they didn't seem to require a library card to enter into them. I just had to agree not to visit anything risky like porn sites.

I quickly got to work. Alakazam's mind pressed to mine as we both looked at the monitor.

So this was the world we'd found ourselves in. A DC universe very familiar, but also very different. They'd had JSA, currently had a Justice League, had a lot of the heroes I know. But it was also oddly young. It was 2010. The DC comics had been stuffed with heroes by the time it had been 2010 in my world. But this one was barely scratching the surface.

And then there were the big threats. People didn't seem familiar with things like… well, like Darkseid. The Lanterns they knew were Green. Gotham hadn't been hit with an earthquake in decades.

"It is likely you are the only one who knows the possibility of such things," Alakazam whispered in my mind. "Though I know what you are thinking."

He did. Maybe the big threats didn't exist. Maybe the small ones didn't. After all, this world was different in a dozen little ways.

For example, the Justice League of this world had been formed in 2003, to fight a threat called the Appellaxians. Not Starro or White Martians or any of dozens of things that brought the Big Good Team together.

This world was familiar in an odd way. But how much of what I knew was real? Should I warn people? Some of the things I wanted to warn people about might be summoned by the very things I'd do to stop them.

"We'll worry about it later," I said in my head, my own mental speech not as elegant and smooth as Alakazam's was. I switched to the second bit of research we had to focus on. Gemstones and where to find them.

Honokaa was far from the sorts of volcanoes Slugma would want to go to. But if I wanted to have a steady source of gemstone, making the journey would be worth it. Alakazam, for some reason, seemed like he already knew what I was going to decide before I even had the information.

He was like that sometimes, seeming to see just a few steps into the future and letting me catch up to him. I suspected it was a combination of intelligence and psychic powers that let him do it. I didn't know if he could see into the future. He never cleared it up. But I had faith in him.

So when I made my choice, he was ready for it. 

"Kīlauea. We'll head there. Slugma will be able to dive deeper than anyone, and an active volcano will make it so much easier for her."

"Good. How will we get there? The raft may not last until we get there."

"You're not going to ask why I'm not going to Mauna Loa instead?" I asked mentally. I wish my mental voice wasn't so loud and scratchy, even in my own mind.

"I assume it is because it is the most active. Or was there something else."

It wasn't a question. I frowned thoughtfully. "I just… it seems right."

It took me a second to realize I'd said that outloud. A man reading nearby gave me a strange look. I ignored him and looked up the directions between the library and the volcano, Alakazam memorizing them in an instant.

"Then let us depart. How will we go?"

I rose and headed to the exit while talking in my mind once more. "The volcano is what, 70 miles away? That's about a day and a night of walking. I don't mind leaving the raft here and booking it on foot."

"Very well. Let us get moving. I will meet you here," he sent an image of a section of road along the way.

I headed out, thinking to myself. "Hopefully we can get there without hitting any trouble."

"Yes. Hopefully."

"...Why do you sound so mysterious?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."