Chapter 1: Starting from the Pokémon Egg

Chapter 1: Starting from the Pokémon Egg

Inside a shimmering time tunnel, a green figure rapidly moved forward, seemingly protecting an elliptical object glowing with light.

Suddenly, countless strange black smoke clouds chased from behind, swirling ominously as though they were going to engulf everything in their path.

With no choice, the green figure accelerated, with countless fragments of time flashing past and then swallowed by the black smoke, disappearing without a trace.

But gradually, the black smoke surged faster and faster, and just as the swirling mist was about to reach the green figure, an explosion of white light erupted.

The black smoke halted in its advance due to the white light, and the green figure seized the opportunity to aim for a slightly open rift in time and, carrying the glowing elliptical object, dove inside.

...

This world was full of all kinds of wondrous creatures.

Aside from humans, there was another species, numerous in number, scattered across every corner of the world.

They soared freely in the sky, galloped wildly across the plains, swam in the vast oceans, reached majestic heights in space, and existed in even the smallest grass or river. They were everywhere, in the streets, the woods, and atop cliffs. The humans who coexisted with them called these marvelous creatures:

"Pokémon."

At this moment, deep in the New Moon Forest of the Eastern East Region, various Pokémon were living peacefully, just as they always had.

Not far from the center of the forest, beneath a giant tree, a gentle breeze swayed the grass, making a soft rustling sound. Among the rustling leaves, an egg covered with blue spots was faintly visible.

This was a Pokémon egg.

As if stirred by the wind, the egg wobbled uneasily.

A few Pupitar hanging on the tree seemed to be attracted by the movement of the egg. They glanced at it with curiosity but, seeing nothing unusual, went back to ignoring it.

Suddenly, a cracking sound echoed.

Cracks appeared at the top of the egg, and it began to shake. With each crack, the sound grew louder, and the egg wobbled more violently.

"Crack! Crack!"

Through the widening cracks, a struggling figure could be seen inside.

"Boom!"

The cracks reached their limit, and the pressure from inside was too much. The top of the egg shattered entirely.

As the egg broke, a soft howl rang out.

"Rooar!"

A small, four-legged creature stood up from the shattered egg. Its body was mainly blue-black, and it resembled a small dog. It had a black mask-like pattern on its face, and its red eyes looked confused.

"What's going on?"

Luke's mind was in a state of chaos. He glanced around, trying to make sense of his surroundings:

Ahead and to the right, he saw a patch of grass about half a meter high. Farther ahead, the woods grew dense, with intertwined trees blocking most of the sky. Only small beams of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting golden patterns on the ground. To the left, there was a quiet and serene deep green pond, surrounded by large rocks scattered along its edges.

It was a tranquil natural landscape.

"Grass and trees? But wasn't I just crossing the street?"

Luke stared blankly for a while, and gradually his disoriented thoughts began to settle.

He started to recall his situation:

Since childhood, he had loved martial arts, and upon reaching adulthood, he chose to become a professional fighter. With his excellent combat talent, he won numerous victories and honors during his career. Just as his life seemed to be on the rise, a tragic diagnosis shattered his world—he was found to have congenital heart disease. This was a heavy blow for a professional athlete, and he fell into a period of deep depression. When he finally emerged from the shadow of his illness, accepting reality, he planned to transition to becoming a fighting coach and start his second career. But on the way to sign the contract, his heart disease suddenly struck again, and when his eyes closed and opened, he found himself in this strange place.

In his leisure time, Luke had read many popular online novels.

"Did I... transmigrate?"

Luke thought about it uncertainly. Considering the situation from all angles, it seemed like the plot of a novel, yet it oddly fit his current reality.

Yes, you have transmigrated.

It was as if he heard a mysterious voice in his mind, confirming the truth of his transmigration.

He felt his heart beating strongly and smiled.

"Actually, this isn't too bad. At least I have a chance to regain a healthy body. Wait, wait, wait…"

Luke's eyes widened as he looked at his "hands."

His hands were no longer the familiar five-fingered shape but had instead transformed into a claw-like structure. His palms and arms were covered in blue fur, and there was a white circular patch on the back of his hands.

Looking down, Luke realized that he was standing in a half-broken eggshell.

He suddenly had a guess, and with that thought, he rushed toward the nearby pond.

"Whoosh, whoosh."

Breathing heavily, Luke reached the pond and looked at his reflection in the water.

The reflection showed a familiar figure: there were two horn-like protrusions on his head, two objects resembling headbands hanging on either side of his eyes, and a yellow collar around his neck.

"This... is this, Riolu??"

Luke incredulously touched his face.

The Pokémon franchise was well-known in his previous world, and being an avid gamer, he was very familiar with the popular fighting Pokémon, Riolu.

However, he never expected that one day, he would be reincarnated as Riolu in this world.

Luke carefully observed his new Riolu form. He reached up with his right claw and brushed against his neck, noticing a thin necklace hanging loosely, with one end emerging from the collar.

The pendant embedded in the necklace was a blue crystal that glowed faintly under the natural light.

Although Luke felt a bit odd about the presence of the necklace, in the face of the overwhelming reality of being reborn as Riolu, he couldn't focus on anything else. He stood up, immediately captivated by several Pupitar hanging from the tree.

"Pupitar! So, I've really arrived in the Pokémon world!"

The Pupitar, which were about 0.6 to 0.7 meters long—much larger than any larvae he'd seen in his previous life—stared lazily with lifeless eyes. Upon hearing Luke's startled exclamations, they merely swayed their bodies and continued to dangle on the tree, indifferent.

Luke sat cross-legged and racked his brain, recalling everything he knew.

In his previous life, his knowledge of Pokémon was mostly from games and comics. He had just played up to the eighth generation in the Pokémon Sword and Shield games, and had only read a few chapters of the special edition of the comics. As for the animated series, he had seen very little. Looking around at the forest, with no obvious identifying landmarks, Luke couldn't figure out which world—game, manga, or animation—he was now in.