Eyes snapping open, Alden sucked in a sharp breath. A blank white ceiling greeted his sight.
He breathed in deeply, then exhaled.
"Man, that was a trip."
Feeling his phone laying on his chest, he lifted up and checked it. Upon seeing the time on the lock screen, he blinked a few times and raised his eyebrows. Although he didn't recall the exact time he downloaded the emulator, he could tell that only a few minutes had passed compared to when he booted it up.
'A few hours turned into a few minutes?'
And it all felt vivid and real in his mind, unlike a dream.
Excited at the thought of it all being as real as it felt, he stood up and unlocked his phone. Immediately, he saw the blank emulator screen with a prompt asking if he would like to summon the transferred items. Of course, he chose the 'yes' option.
*Di-di-ding!*
Alongside the upbeat alert sound, a small purple and pink buzzsaw-shaped spiral spun into existence with a subtle hum in front of him. A tangerine-sized blue fruit fell through it and hovered softly downward onto the carpet.
Lips rising upward with glee, he knelt to pick up the Oran Berry. However, he paused before grabbing it. He decided to try one more thing out of curiosity.
Alden extended his hand outward and focused just like he experienced inside the emulator world. To his surprise, he felt the familiar tingling sensation in his brain, and a purple glow surrounded both his hand and the Oran Berry. Under his will and a slight gesture, it floated up into his palm.
Several silent seconds passed while he stared blankly at the small fruit sitting on his palm.
Eventually, he shook himself out of his reverie, laughed, and did a fist pump.
After celebrating wholeheartedly for a bit, he settled down and plopped down on his messy bed. He bit into the Oran Berry and savored the flavor while pulling up Discord with his other hand.
"Hm? Where's Nathan's account?"
Brow wrinkling in concern, he pulled up his messaging app instead and sent a text.
[Bro. Where'd your account go?]
His phone-addicted friend replied within seconds.
[Ah, sorry. Account got hacked or something, I think? It completely disappeared, and support couldn't figure it out, so I just made a new one. I'll send you a friend request again in a sec.]
"I guess he might not be the one who sent the emulator. So, who sent it then? And why me?"
Taking another bite of the Oran Berry, Alden rolled over on his bed and fell into thought. He absentmindedly scratched his left calf with his right big toe.
A few seconds later, though, he shrugged and muttered, "Eh. Doesn't matter."
Since he didn't have a way to investigate, why worry about it now? Just have fun with it!
As such, he pulled up the emulator again. A new and unfamiliar prompt greeted him when he loaded the True Hoenn Romhack.
[Select a Game Mode:]
>[1st Person] [3rd Person]
Not fully sure what the two modes would do, he thought for a moment… then flipped a coin.
Tails.
Sticking to the result, he selected the 3rd Person option.
Unlike before, the game booted up like a normal rom, though the graphics looked more like a Monster Hunter game than a Pokemon game. His avatar that looked just like a slightly younger version of himself was laying on the couch he logged off from. A small Mudkip sprite sat on the rug in front of the couch. All of the furniture was in the same configuration he just experienced for himself moments earlier, but this time from a top-down perspective.
Aside from the game sprites, he also noticed the mostly transparent gameboy-like controls at the bottom left and right corners. He pressed the D-pad to see what would happen.
His avatar hopped off the couch and stood in place.
He pressed the D-pad again. His character moved again. He pressed 'A' when looking at Mudkip. A dialogue box popped up showing Murk's nickname, followed by an onomatopoeia.
Further experimentation led him to discover that many objects on the map were interactable like on a DS or 3DS touch screen. Touching Murk made his avatar kneel down to pet the Mudkip. Pressing on the Oran plant led to his character adding a few berries to his bag.
Curious, he navigated his game character outside. Contrary to his expectations, the map showed far more than the Littleroot from the third gen games. Even from his position in front of his in-game home, he could glimpse at the size of the town map.
To double check, he navigated his character through Littleroot. Exploring the paths and streets led him to familiar buildings like the Town Hall and the Police Station. Even the farmlands and Professor Birch's lab beyond them were in the same positions he experienced firsthand. Although scaled down a bit since his character could navigate the streets much more quickly than he and May had, everything seemed to be proportionally the same.
Murk hopped along behind him the whole way, much like the follow system of the second gen games.
"So that's what Third Person means. What about First Person, then?" Alden wondered aloud.
Already having an inkling of an idea based on his first experience with the emulator, he closed the game without saving. A prompt surprised him when he tried to do so.
[Would you like to retrieve anything obtained during this temporary adventure?]
[Available Options:]
[Pokemon: Mudkip (Murk)]
[Item: Oran Berry]
Speechless, he rubbed his chin in contemplation. Moments later, he selected the Oran Berry. He decided to wait on testing the Pokemon option until he caught something less useful for his main team like a Zigzagoon or a Taillow.
Like before, a purple and pink buzzsaw-like portal spun into existence. Another Oran Berry dropped in front of him.
"Wow. I'll have to test this more later. Might be good for some item grinding or something, though I'm not sure how progress will be affected without saving," Alden mumbled to himself.
Oran Berry in hand, he then reloaded the game. The first and third person options appeared once again. Before selecting anything, though, he devoured the Oran Berry in a few bites. Then, he returned his attention to the screen. This time, he instantly selected '1st Person'.
A bright light flashed and blinded him again. Eyes scrunched shut for several seconds, he covered his face with his hands. He then realized his phone was no longer in his hands.
After his eyes adjusted from being flash banged, he opened them. Once again, he found himself sitting on the couch in his in-game living room.
"MuH?"
"Sup, Murk?"
"Mudkip?"
Looking down, he saw Murk looking back and forth with a stumped look on its face. Reading into the little guy's feelings, he picked up on something interesting. Despite not saving earlier, Murk showed some level of memory about their walk through the town just now. However, as far as he could tell, Murk seemed to think of it more like a dream or hallucination.
'I'm not sure if that is a good or a bad thing, but good to know, I guess.'
Resting his chin on his palm, he tapped his cheek while pondering all of his new discoveries. Inwardly, he preferred to experience everything in first person mode, but perhaps things like item grinding or hunting for specific Pokemon could be done in third person mode. Something to figure out later, he supposed.
Then, his gaze lowered to Murk again. With several minutes to spare before May would arrive, an idea popped into his head.
Alden hopped up from the couch and ran over to his room. Murk hopped along behind him with a happy grin. Inside the room, Alden tore through his drawers and closet until he found a large bouncy ball. He tossed it up and down in his hand a few times, then looked down at Murk and smiled.
"Wanna play for a bit until May gets here?"
"Mudkip!"
An excited affirmative response.