"Ring—ring—ring!"
Hikaru opened his sleepy eyes, stared at the ceiling, and let out a long yawn.
"Another unremarkable day," he muttered.
It was the weekend, and the Pikachu clock by his bed showed it was already noon. Hikaru had just woken up. Heading to the bathroom, he ordered some takeout while waiting for the water to run.
"Dodrio Speedy Delivery, Pelipper Fresh Foods... huh, these shop names are getting more creative."
Several newly opened stores had names inspired by Pokémon, which felt pleasantly familiar to Hikaru. He ordered a "29.9 Yuan Farfetch'd Set (with flatbread)" without much thought, then set his phone aside to wash up.
"Splash—"
He scooped some water and splashed it on his face. In the mirror, a tall, handsome young man with classic features stared back. His hair was messy, and thick dark circles under his eyes only seemed to make his gaze more intense. Even dark circles looked like natural eye bags on someone this good-looking. It was, quite honestly, very relatable.
After washing up, Hikaru returned to his rented room and collapsed comfortably into his gaming chair. He turned on his computer, entered the password "Mai Sakurajima," and a dynamic Pikachu screensaver lit up the monitor.
"Pika-chuu (◍´꒳`◍)~⚡!"
He smoothly navigated to Bilibili, browsing for a video to watch with his lunch. As a freshman at Modu University and a part-time gaming content creator, Hikaru primarily focused on editing and narrating Pokémon battle videos. With his unique style and in-depth knowledge, he had garnered nearly 100,000 followers.
Although Hikaru was also a skilled player, once ranking as high as seventh globally, his luck was notoriously bad—he even had a famous clip of missing three Hydro Pumps in a row. That's why his viewers always teased him for being the go-to channel for "food videos." He streamed and made videos in tandem, which was why he rented an apartment off-campus, only going to school for classes.
"Hm?"
As he browsed the homepage, he mumbled, "There's so much Pokémon content on the homepage today. Could it be that Pokémon is trending again?" Of the ten recommended videos, eight were Pokémon-related.
["Bear Grylls: Look what we found here—a wild Caterpie!"]
["Suggested revision: Splash Attack."]
["Huanong: My buddy's berries are ripe; time to pick a few."]
...
"Something's off about the homepage today," Hikaru thought. "A Caterpie? What's up with that—six times the protein of beef?"
"And berries... they wouldn't mean Sitrus or Oran Berries, would they...?"
Scratching his head, he scrolled over to the gaming section, where his eyes widened in shock. The battle video he had posted last night had shot to the top of the gaming section!
Swallowing hard, he clicked on his video titled [Professor Hikaru's Battle Tutorial #3: Substitute Toxic].
Taking a deep breath, he saw the number.
"1.2 million views!?"
"What in the world is going on!?"
After a moment of shock, Hikaru scrolled through the bullet comments with a grin, but a slight sense of confusion crept in. "Substitute Toxic" was a pretty basic strategy, so why had it suddenly gone viral? Could it be that a big name in the gaming section had given him a shoutout? But he hadn't been doing any PR networking recently.
Scratching his chin, Hikaru scrolled down to the comments. One comment, by an account named "Fighter," a Level 6 certified user, gave a detailed explanation of the "Substitute Toxic" tactic.
["Fighter: 'Substitute Toxic' is a strategy using a Pokémon that knows Toxic, Substitute, and Protect, forming the core of the tactic. In battles, Trainers need excellent adaptability to execute this strategy skillfully. For Grass and Poison Trainers, there's a natural advantage, so you can study this tutorial carefully. Thanks to the content creator for such a high-quality tutorial! PS: Maybe this would fit better in the Battle Zone."]
After reading, a huge question mark popped into Hikaru's head.
"Battle Zone? When did Bilibili add a 'Battle' section?"
Replies underneath the comment included: "Master Ball capture," "Whoa, is this real-life?" and "Red, mama loves you!" Scratching his head, Hikaru gave "Fighter's" comment a like and clicked into his profile. In an instant, a cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
"Renowned Battle Zone creator, ninth Quartz Conference champion, World Master Championship winner..."
Hikaru stammered, unable to get the words out clearly.
"R-Red!?"
"You've got to be kidding—Red is supposed to be the legendary Trainer from the special manga series. How could he be a Bilibili content creator!?"
Opening Red's photo gallery, he was greeted by the image of a sunny young man in his twenties, wearing a red cap, black vest, and red jacket, with a fluffy Pikachu perched on his shoulder. If it were a cosplay, it was ten times more realistic than any Red Hikaru had ever imagined! And this real-life Pikachu was so adorable it looked just like the one from Detective Pikachu!
Hikaru was completely stunned.
"When something happens, don't panic. Stay calm, stay calm!"
"So, here's what happened: I woke up, saw that my video had suddenly gone viral, and found that some big-shot had commented on it."
"And this big-shot is the world champion, the protagonist of the Pokémon world—Red."
"Ha! So when you put it that way, it all makes perfect sense!"
"...Makes sense, my foot!"
"So... have I traveled to another world, or is there something wrong with this one? Could it be some kind of world-line convergence where Red himself has become a content creator!?"
Hikaru had been trained to handle bizarre situations, no matter how wild they seemed. But this... As his brain nearly shut down, his phone suddenly rang.
"Hello, your food delivery has arrived. Could you come to the window to pick it up?"
"Oh, okay."
Walking to the window, he suddenly remembered he was on the sixth floor. Sixth floor, come to the window? Were they planning to deliver it via Pidgeotto?
Suddenly, a shadow swooped by. A large, vibrant-colored bird with a graceful crest landed at the window. A bag clutched in its beak, it waved a wing at Hikaru with a cheerful expression.
Hikaru was frozen in shock.
The delivery person called up from below.
"Remember to leave a five-star rating, okay?"
Hikaru didn't even remember how he took the food from the Pidgeotto's beak. All he could recall was seeing flocks of Pidgeys flying across the sky, Oddishes waddling around the flower beds in the neighborhood, and a majestic Rapidash galloping along the overpass. His landlord walked by with an orange-furred, black-striped Growlithe, waving at him with a smile.
"Pokémon world... merged with reality..."
Hikaru stood there for a long time, looking up at the sky, feeling his eyes moisten.
Eighteen years. A full eighteen years.
I finally lived to see this day!