July 7, 2017, Summer
At 7:40 AM, the sky was clear. The sun rose right on schedule, radiating light and warmth across the land.
In his bedroom, David remained lost in his dreams. For a high school student, nothing was more precious than sleeping in during the first few days of summer vacation. He was savoring this rare moment of peace.
The room stayed silent except for his quiet breathing and the gentle hum of the air conditioner that matched the summer heat outside. Everything felt perfectly harmonious.
"Ring, ring, ring!" Suddenly, a phone call shattered the silence. The sharp ringing was especially jarring in the quiet bedroom. It wasn't until the third ring that a hand finally emerged from under the covers and grabbed the phone from the bedside table.
"Hello?"
"You brat, what time is it? Don't tell me you're still in bed! Have you forgotten what day it is? Get up right now, get ready, and eat breakfast. Didn't you arrange to meet someone at school this morning to register for your Trainer qualification? Hurry up and don't be late." David's father's stern voice came through the phone.
The words that flooded his ears after answering startled David, who was still half-asleep. However, he instinctively mumbled a response to the somewhat familiar voice.
"Mm, yeah, I know. I'll get up right away, don't worry."
After reluctantly ending the call, David hung up and burrowed back under the covers, planning to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
But suddenly, David, who had just snuggled back down, shivered. Something felt wrong. He immediately sat up again.
"Huh?"
Register?
Trainer?
Am I playing too many games and hallucinating?
Now fully aware, David felt confused. What was all this about? Wasn't it just the beginning of summer vacation? He was clearly at home, playing games all night!
What's going on? Could Dad be playing too much Pokémon like him and started hallucinating? Or did he just mishear because he wasn't fully awake? Where in the real world are there Pokémon Trainers?
He gently patted his cheeks to wake himself up more.
"I'm probably still not fully awake."
David, barely conscious, rubbed his eyes with a bewildered expression. At this point, he noticed something was off. He got out of bed and began examining the luxurious bedroom that felt somewhat unfamiliar.
"An unfamiliar ceiling. Wait, no. Where am I? These days I've heard of truck-kun isekai, I've heard of electric shock isekai, but there can't be sleeping isekai, right?"
"Ding-dong, ding-dong."
Just then, his phone on the bedside table chimed. He picked it up and saw the day's trending news notifications popping up. Looking at the icon, he finally saw something familiar: the app icon was still a penguin, but why was it an Empoleon?
Thinking he could use the news to understand his current situation, David didn't hesitate and opened it directly.
However, just reading the headlines made David's head hurt.
"Breaking New Records: The number of second-year high school students in our country planning to enroll in the Trainer program is expected to increase by approximately 11.3% year-on-year."
"Recently, Professor Smith, a renowned scientist from the White Eagle Federation, announced that the Pokémon Fossil Revival Project has made significant progress. The Miskatonic Institute has successfully restored the prehistoric Pokémon Aurorus from an ancient secret realm dating back hundreds of millions of years. The specific results will be revealed at a press conference in one week."
What is all this about?
Could it be that he really came to the Pokémon world?
At this moment, David felt his head throbbing. The discomfort in his brain made him frown, but to understand his current situation better, he endured the slight pain and continued reading.
Can't Fly: "Aurorus? Dragon? Have archaeologists finally unearthed a Dragon-type Pokémon? Judging by the name, it must be Dragon and Ice-type!"
Magikarp that Blows Bubbles: "Who knows? Maybe it's another 'Dragon' like Aerodactyl. They haven't released any specific information yet."
Flying-type Master: "No way, right? Does anyone really think that if a name has 'Dragon' in it, it must be a Dragon-type Pokémon? I bet it might be Ice and Flying-type!"
Suddenly, as David was reading the comments, he clutched his head. A violent pain struck him instantly. David felt as if his entire head was about to split open as memories kept surfacing. Different memories mixed together, making his brain feel like it was exploding.
After a while, David, who had been tossing and turning in bed from the pain, finally stopped. It took some time before he barely recovered, but his face remained exceptionally pale and covered in sweat. He looked extremely weak.
"So all of this is real. It really is the Pokémon world!"
After sorting through the complex memories in his brain, David finally had a rough understanding of his current situation.
It wasn't that he had been transported to another world. Rather, the entire world—everything except himself—had changed!
He was still himself, still David, but the world was no longer the original world. It seemed that when he woke up, the real world had merged with the Pokémon world.
According to the memories in his mind, the historical process of this new world was initially almost identical to that of normal Earth. Until thousands of years ago, one day, countless extraterrestrial secret realms suddenly descended upon this world, bringing with them Pokémon—these extraordinary creatures. The arrival of Pokémon caused the entire course of Earth's history to veer off in an unknown direction.
In the beginning, humans were incredibly fearful when facing these creatures that could fly, burrow underground, breathe fire, spray water, easily create strong winds and Earthquakes, and even alter landscapes and weather. People at the time called them demon beasts or monstrous beasts. It wasn't until later, through some fortunate encounters, that some humans and Pokémon formed bonds. They lived together harmoniously, and only then did people discover that these "terrifying" monstrous beasts were not entirely unapproachable. They possessed intelligence and sentience far beyond ordinary animals and would show affection toward humans they recognized.
So, with the efforts of some exceptionally talented humans, individuals capable of taming monstrous beasts began to emerge among humanity. They were respectfully called Beast Tamers by ordinary people, which became the origin of the Trainer profession recorded in later generations. With the power of monstrous beasts, humanity was finally able to restart its development in this new world, eventually forming many powerful Pokémon Empires.
Over thousands of years, countless nations rose and fell before meeting their end. Later, with the continuous arrival of secret realms, more and more monstrous beasts entered Earth through them, and the human population surged with continuous development. Even though Earth's area, with the constant integration of secret realms, far exceeded that of his previous life, wars between humans and monstrous beasts ultimately broke out.
At the beginning of the war, even with the existence of Beast Tamers, humanity suffered continuous defeats against the countless monstrous beasts, and countless small nations were destroyed. However, the pressure of war also served as a catalyst for progress, and human technology achieved remarkable leaps during the conflict.
Thus, both sides fought fiercely, and the entire world was plunged into war. Finally, the endless conflict awakened beings known as "Gods." With the intervention of Legendary Pokémon, this world-encompassing war finally came to a reluctant end.
After the war, human nations quickly established various Alliances based on the foundations of their former countries. At the same time, they intensified the excavation and exploration of secret realm ruins, gaining deeper understanding of extraterrestrial civilizations and monstrous beasts. They began restricting the abuse of monstrous beast power, and the Trainer profession started to develop, but Pokémon power remained in the hands of a select few.
In the early twentieth century, after decades of dedicated research, the Poké Ball was invented. In the same year, the World Pokémon Federation was established, and the term "monstrous beast" was officially replaced by "Pokémon," as recorded in ruin civilizations. After the birth of the Poké Ball, the ability to capture Pokémon became widespread, and the Pokémon Trainer profession finally truly entered the historical stage.
By now, Pokémon have fully integrated into all aspects of human life, and the Trainer profession has become the defining feature of the new century.
"So after all this, it really is an urban Pokémon story!" Recalling the novels he had read before his transmigration, David couldn't help but grin.
A world without Pokémon equals boring equals bad civilization! A world with Pokémon equals interesting equals good civilization!
However, after fully integrating his memories, David was surprised to discover that while he was still the same person from his memories, just with added "Pokémon world" memories, his family background in this new world had undergone dramatic changes.
Originally, David's parents were just ordinary people. His father ran a small business, his mother worked in a hospital, and David also had an older sister named Emma who had just graduated from Magic City University and was preparing to work. Their family's financial situation wasn't bad, but it was just average.
But in this merged world, David's father became the Gym Leader of the Dragon-type Gym in the Imperial Capital, his mother was a Pokémon Doctor, and his older sister was a top student in the Pokémon Battle department at Magic City University. As for himself, time had simply reverted two years, and he had once again become a student about to face his senior year of high school. Besides having good grades, he didn't seem to have any other changes, as if he had transmigrated but not really.
"Good heavens! Dad is now a Gym Leader, and Mom is a Pokémon Doctor! I'm the chosen one! Doesn't this mean I have a perfect start, directly becoming a second-generation… wait, no… a second-generation Pokémon Trainer!"
Could this also be a benefit for people who transmigrate?
Understanding his current situation, David's mouth stretched into a wide smile. Who hadn't dreamed of waking up one day as someone from a wealthy family? That kind of life where you can just relax and do whatever you want—wasn't his dream directly coming true now?
At this thought, David's mouth almost stretched into a Gengar's grin. The head that had been aching to the point of explosion suddenly didn't seem to hurt as much!
"No, no. It's not easy to come to the long-desired Pokémon world. How can I be content with mediocrity? I should strive for more!" David suddenly patted his face, waking himself from his pleasant daydream, and muttered solemnly to himself.
It wasn't that he had such great awareness. Rather, one must understand that this was the world of Pokémon!
When watching Pokémon at home during summer vacation as a child, who hadn't fantasized about capturing Pokémon? Those scenes from their youth, loudly shouting "Pokémon, I choose you!" and "I want to be a Pokémon Master"—those embarrassing yet sweet childhood memories that come flooding back when they grow up.
In the real world, countless people yearned to come to their beloved Pokémon world, to meet the Pokémon that only existed in fiction, to build bonds with them, travel, battle, and adventure together, to climb to the pinnacle of being a Trainer!
Speaking of which, he didn't seem to be one of those battle-focused players who constantly researched strategies and team compositions! At most, he was a Pokédex completionist, quite different from the "technical experts" who often appeared in novels.
David wasn't one of those ultimate battle-focused, hardcore Pokémon fans who spent all their time studying the games. He had only watched most of the anime and some of the manga, and bought a few Pokémon games. At most, he was a casual player who knew quite a bit about the Pokémon series.
As a child, when watching the original series on TV, he had also fantasized about catching Pokémon and becoming a Pokémon Master. He just never expected that it would actually become possible. Now, even if he were told to just relax and do nothing, he wouldn't accept it!
Speaking of which, his dad seemed to have mentioned registering as a Pokémon Trainer on the phone earlier, right?
Recalling this, David's headache instantly vanished.
He immediately got out of bed, excitement uncontrollable, filled with anticipation for his future life as a Trainer.