‘Huh..I’m guessing this is what she meant by blessing.’ Heath examined the blue screen before getting up. He’s read some cultivation novels, and especially webnovels where the main character has a system. Heath instantly thought that he was the main character and pumped his arms in the air but then he thought about all of the potential protagonists in this world, which quickly deflated his mood.

‘Typical systems have a word or thought that activates the main menu’ Heath considered a couple of words that would do that.

‘Status’ Heath thought for his first try.

[User has figured out how to activate system without the need of a tutorial or help. System has awarded user with 1x rare candy]

‘Status’

Name: Heath

Age: 15

Affiliation: None

Rank: None

Poke Dollars

-

Team

‘Team?’ Heath thought, and the layout of the screen transformed to the Gen 5 team window, but instead of 6 spots there were 10 and below that instead of the back button there was a show button with numbers 1-10. Heath also noticed that there was the first slot filled. It showed a level 5 Piplup.

‘What the... Is this the same Piplup’

[User has been implemented with the pokémon of his last game played in his original world. User cannot directly release the pokémon without clicking or thinking of the action of clicking the show button and the number presented, which would spawn the pokéballs correlating to the numbers selected]

Heath thought of clicking the show 1 button, it grey out and he felt something in his pocket of his pants.

‘At least this is pokémon not Attack on Titans but then again is this a game focused world? or is it just me and the system. Maybe…’ Heath questioned. He looked around the small clearing of where he was before walking towards an opening. Simultaneously, he checked his pocket and felt a round large cold marble that had a seam at it half point with a button. He took it out of his pocket while avoiding the shrubbery in his way and looked at the pokéball. It was the classic generic red and white pokéball that was shown in the anime and games. He pointed the ball and the button outward to the center of the spacious clearing he had entered and a sound was heard. The ball enlarged and popped open, a bright light in the shape of a penguin quickly appeared before hitting the ground. The light dispersed as fast as it had appeared and a blue and white penguin was left in it’s place. The penguin looked around, and immediately become frantic.

“Piplup, pip??”

“Piplup, pi!!” Piplup chirped, and then it caught its eye on Heath and it seemed to instantly calmed down, and ran to him. Before it arrived at his feet, he took a step back concerned.

“pi?” The Piplup was concerned to why Heath was stepping back. Piplup soon become slightly sad which caused Heath to immediate bend down to it.

“Sorry, I’m just not used to everything Piplup.” Heath said. He avoided touching the Blue and white penguin but observed it. It looked exactly like the anime drawn with saturation, but at the same time it didn’t. It was weird but at the end he had found the Piplup to be just as cute as when he picked it from the trio. He enjoyed playing Pokémon diamond due to It’s story and it’s Pokémon designs were fantastic unlike the gen 7 starters. Heath just regretted that he hard reset-ed the day before he died since his team was stacked. He was actually on his way home with the new Pokémon Brilliant Diamond that came out. Heath slowly felt himself getting slightly disappointed with his starting point but then he slapped himself in the face.

‘Maybe it’s a good thing this happened. I’ll get to start over with Piplup. We’ll slowly build our way up, together’ He finally gathered the courage to try to touch him but Piplup took it a step more and jumped on Heath. It caused him to fall back but he embraced his Piplup.

‘He’s so soft.’ Heath felt and looked at the smiling Piplup and felt a small amount of joy causing him to smile. Piplup snuggled it’s body in his trainer’s arms, and after awhile Heath decided it was time to go, so he put Piplup down. It pouted but it didn’t resist which caused Heath to chuckle.

“Piplup, Piplup” The Piplup hit it’s wing on Heath’s leg. It was stronger than one would think looking at his the small penguin, which made him very aware of the world he was in.

‘I have to be careful.’ Heath reminded himself. He remembered the Quest issued to him talking about any human settlements, so that’s what he would look at for the time being. He continued in a direction and soon he heard something rustling in the bushes. He looked towards Piplup who seemed to be on edge and looked at the bush. It kept rustling, and progressed more violently until It suddenly stopped. Heath remained cautious. Piplup looked at him and in return Heath told it to be quiet with his hand.

“Pi?” The Piplup whispered with his head turning slightly to the side.

“No noise” Heath replied back with a whisper. Piplup nodded repeatedly and looked towards the bush which suddenly stopped rustling. Piplup and Heath took small steps towards the bush out of curiosity but arriving at the bush.

“What you looking at mister?”

Heath quickly rolled out of the way and looked towards the voice. Meanwhile Piplup jumped and took an aggressive stance. Heath saw that the person who startled him was a girl around his age. She looked to be slightly spooked at his spontaneous roll and Piplup being wary. Quickly analyzing his situation, he thought.

‘Find out where I am at, then get more information.’

“Hey, I’ve seen to have lost my way, what direction is the closest town?” Heath asked. He stood up from his poser superhero stance and looked towards Piplup, who was still cautious of the girl.

“Piplup relax, I don’t think she means us any harm.” Heath predicted. The girl nodded her head furiously to calm down Piplup, and in response Piplup relaxed, and made its way towards Heath. The girl visibly calmed down and breathed out.

“Thanks for that, Of course I don’t mean any harm. Hey, what type of pokémon is that, I’ve never seen it before?” The girl questioned.

“First, answer my question” Heath countered. The girl looked visibly confused before pounding her fist into her other hand.

“Oh, right. We are next to Oldale Town, don’t you have your Pokétch?” The girl asked, showing her watch to Heath. Heath shook his head.

“I must’ve lost it; I hit my head and don’t remember much” Heath lied. He figured that this lie would give him a couple of opportunities to feign ignorance in certain case.

“Well, I can either take you to Oldale town, so you can see Professor Cherry or I can point you in the direction of Littleroot, though you seem to already have your starter so you might only be able to register or get a new Pokétch” The girl offered.

‘Going to Oldale town might be less risky as I have to come back here and there’s probably nowhere to sleep in little root. There’s also the chance that we might have to go to little root anyway. What do I have to register for though? And for what?’ Heath was confused because the only registrations he could think of were for tournaments. After debating with himself Heath looked at Piplup who returned his gaze with a smile.

“What do you think Piplup, Littleroot?” Heath questioned.

“Pi pip” Piplup replied with a nod, Heath saw this as his sign to go to Littleroot and so he looked at the girl was observing Piplup innocently. After a couple seconds, the girl saw they were waiting for her and she turned red. She giggled in embarrassment.

“The map says that Littleroot is south, but it’s more South east so just head that and continued straight” She points the way they came. Heath waved goodbye and went to turn around to walk in the right direction.

“Uhh…excuse me?” The girl blurted out. Heath and Piplup simultaneously looked back confused. The girl once more turned red.

“My name is Claire if you ever see me again. Don’t be a stranger?” Claire beamed a smile.

“My name is Heath, thank you for all of your help.” Heath replied. He turned back around and waved goodbye without looking.

‘Cringe’ Heath thought as he fought the forest with it getting in his way.

“So Piplup, how do you like our journey so far?” Heath asked looking back.

“Pip, Piplup lup” Piplup squealed. Heath couldn’t understand Piplup, leaving the only option of trying to estimate his pokemon’s feeling and his emotions. Some of his mannerisms felt like he was talking to someone who didn’t know his language which at this moment wasn’t the best.

“That’s good as there’s a lot where that came from as my dream for right now is reaching the top and I want you to come with me.” Heath explained.

“Piplup Pip?”

“Yeah, we can battle, travel, and most importantly I want to make you the strongest Empoleon in history” Heath emphasized the Empoleon part.

‘I need to make sure we are in the right state of mind together or else things can end disastrously. Though I am telling the truth when I said I want to reach the top.’ Heath thought. He saw Piplup stay still for a moment and then suddenly his fin glowed. Piplup suddenly ran towards the tree and with hit it like one throws a first. Once he made impact, Piplup chirp.

“PIPLUP PIPLUP” Piplup agreed. The tree shook, but thankfully nothing dangerous came out. Heath was cautious but maybe Piplup getting hyped was a good thing. This reminded him that he was going to have to come up with a training program for Piplup but for now, all they needed was to get too a shelter. Weaving through the trees and the thick shrubbery, Heath decided to take a break but not long after he sat, a bush starts shaking violently. Heath and Piplup going through a similar situation remain alerted and cautious. A Zigzagzoon suddenly pops out and is immediately aggressive.

“Zig zag. Zig”

“Woah their buddy” Heath tries to calm down the racoon pokémon but to no avail.

Well, let’s see what you can do Piplup” Heath commanded. Piplup stepped up and Heath went back to a safe distance.

‘Wait what moves does Piplup know?’ Heath questioned. He looked at Piplup, and suddenly a screen appeared and thankfully It didn’t obstruct his vision.

[Moves: pound, growl]

‘I should’ve figured there would only be shit moves’ Heath thought as he surveyed the battlefield.

‘A bunch of trees not much space, but that may give me some options as far as creativity’ Heath examined.

“Piplup, charge up a small pound, and test the Zigzagoon’s speed” Heath directed.

“piplup” Piplup chirped and kicked up the ground, a small glow appeared from it’s fin again and he ran full force towards the striped animal. The racoon was a little slow to react but managed to avoid the hit.

“Piplup, use pound again but jump on the nearest tree to change direction.” Heath strategized that a full pound would be too much for their current surrounding especially without training but the speed that Piplup showed earlier could be used could be used for a simple redirection.

Piplup charged up and it’s fin started glowing wildly. Piplup ran full force towards the Zigzagoon thinking it would dodge. They guess correctly as Zigzagoon dodged once more. Piplup, still running full force towards the trees leaps and smoothly lands on the tree and using the power of it’s legs, redirects itself towards the wild opponent. It’s too fast for it as Piplup’s attack lands, and the Zigzagoon goes flying crashing into the tree. Instead of trying to fight back, the Zigzagoon leaves and it confuses both Piplup and Heath.

‘I guess it wasn’t that angry’ Heath questioned. Piplup seeing that it won the battle, shouted

“Piplup pip pi pip”

Heath wanted to chuckle as it seemed like his partner was trying to seem prideful and proud but it just looked cute. Piplup saw this and pouted once more before continuing their journey to the small town. They walked for another hour undisturbed, and eventually saw the foliage thinning out. After a couple more minutes they finally saw their first house, soon saw someone working happily. Heath came out of the woods and made their way towards the man.

“Excuse me, I lost in the woods, I have little to no idea where I’m at. I was wondering if there was a professor nearby?” Heath questioned.