In a run-down and dilapidated house, Alex woke up with a splitting headache and pain all over his body.
'What the hell happened? I feel like I just got run over by a truck.'
The last thing he remembered was leaving a store after buying groceries when a bright light blinded him and everything turned dark. The transition of events was too fast, which not only left him confused but also weak, in pain, and with a mind-splitting headache.
He opened his eyes and observed his surroundings. The room was old and unkempt. The floor, ceiling, and walls were rotting. The smell was old and musty. The air was stale, with the unmistakable stench of mold.
'This place looks like shit!'
He sat up and looked down at his body, the source of the constant pain that had been gnawing at him since earlier, and was shocked to discover his smaller and frailer frame. It looked like he hadn't eaten in days. His clothes were ripped and covered in blood. Based on the amount, it would not be surprising if he had died from blood loss.
'I look like shit. I feel like shit. I'm pretty certain I smell like shit too.'
There were unmistakable wounds all over his body. Some were fresh, while others were old. Clearly, this was the body of an abused child. Based on his height of 4'2" (1.27 meters), he was roughly 10 to 15 years old. The estimation was quite broad due to malnourishment. If the child had been malnourished since birth, then this height for a 15-year-old would not be surprising.
Suddenly, memories flooded into his mind—his identity, current state of affairs, and the life the original owner of the body had lived.
His name was Alex Wattson. He was an orphan who lost his parents to a Pokémon flood that threatened to destroy the city. As registered trainers, they were required by law to defend the city at all costs. The cost, in this particular case, was their lives.
The orphanage he was sent to took all of his parents' belongings and left him with nothing. As his official guardian, the orphanage director had the right to handle his assets, which he promptly donated to himself through various accounts.
After that, Alex was left to his own devices in the orphanage. For the next four years, he was bullied due to his naturally thin body and weak mentality. At the age of 12, he left the orphanage despite being a minor and lived in a random dilapidated house in the slums of Saffron City in the Kanto region.
No more than a year of begging in the streets later, he died due to the local gangs in the slums. The original reason for leaving the orphanage was bullying, and now he had ended up dead because of it. He, unlike everyone else, did not have a Pokémon, and the man responsible for his death was a member of a local gang who happened to have a Rattata.
'The Pokémon world. A fucked-up version of one, but still. I am now in the Pokémon world.'
Getting a Pokémon here was a catch-22. In order to get a Pokémon, you had to have money, but in order to get money, you needed a Pokémon. Sure, there were plenty of job opportunities to make your first stack of cash, but that avenue was not available for a street rat.
With no other choice, he had tried to fight off the Pokémon without success, which led to his death via blood loss. Rattata was a fast Pokémon with a mean streak. It would gnaw at him and retreat whenever he tried to hit back. Eventually, the wounds piled up, and he lost too much blood. He had died yesterday, which allowed Alex to take over the body.
How Alex found himself in this situation was a total mystery, but he would be damned if he didn't try to survive now that he was here. He had always been a fighter growing up, and he wouldn't allow his current predicament to bog him down.
First things first, he needed to assess his situation. He was badly wounded and malnourished. He was poor, with no one to turn to. All the money he had saved up, which wasn't much in the first place, begging in the streets was taken by the man who killed him.
He had no money or power to speak of, and had he been the same Alex Wattson, he would undoubtedly die again. But now that he was in control, he identified many avenues for survival.
As an adult in his previous life, Alex was able to scrutinize the child's memories and extrapolate information that was normally overlooked. Information such as the illegal activities in the slums, the crimes being committed at this very moment, and plenty of ways to make money that the former Alex had not been able to take advantage of due to his lack of wisdom.
For example, he could go to the police and ask for help from Officer Jenny. The other policemen were not an option—only a Jenny could help him out of his current situation.
The original Alex had never thought to go to the police for help regarding his stolen assets because he was just a dumb kid. The orphanage director, knowing this, was guaranteed to be able to continually steal from the orphans precisely because they never knew better.
By the time they were old enough to finally realize they had been stolen from, the director would have already retired from his ill-gotten gains. The orphans would settle for low-paying jobs or, better yet, be killed out in the field by stray Pokémon.
Even in the off chance that these orphans sought revenge, the director could rely on his money and connections to simply overpower them. Even a blind assassination attempt would fail, as the director would surely employ the best security money could buy. He was set for life, after all.
'That fat asshole will get what's coming to him. For now, I need to get some sort of treatment.'
This presented a genuine problem that the current Alex could not fix. Treatment required identification, which would force him to return to the orphanage where his future prospects were nil. The original Alex had made the right decision by leaving because the orphanage would have tossed him out at 16 without a single coin to his name.
The orphanage didn't even have any books or collaboration with the local schools that would have allowed the children to at least get a proper education. All those funds had been funneled into the director's pockets. Even the caretakers were in on it.
The only hope for Alex to heal himself was to get some proper food in his stomach for the next month. This, in turn, required both money and presentability. No matter how rich you were, you would never get any proper service if you looked like roadkill.
'I guess I will have to bait that little shit then.'
Hatching a relatively simple plan, Alex got up from the floor, groaning in pain, and made his way outside with uneven steps. He was badly injured, but thankfully, they were mostly flesh wounds. Assuming he didn't get an infection, he could survive with some food in his stomach and a proper bath.
'Let's hope my immune system holds out.'
Making his way out of the bedroom and into the living room, Alex noted that the place must have been abandoned for over ten years at least. The roof must have been damaged, allowing rain into the house. This, in turn, caused water damage to the wood and promoted mold growth.
'I'm surprised this hasn't turned into a haunted house yet.'
Had the original Alex died here, this place would have truly turned into a haunted house.
Making his way through the living room, with trash and debris scattered about in heaps, Alex reached the front door and stepped outside. Looking out, he found himself in the slums of a relatively wealthy city. The technology here was quite a bit higher compared to Earth, so conventional wisdom should still apply.
It was currently the middle of the day, and there were plenty of people and their Pokémon walking about. A typical city housing a few hundred thousand people at least. Even the slums looked nice in comparison to some places on Earth. At least the homeless got to live in abandoned houses.
'I'm really in the Pokémon world.'
The memories he received were muddled and confusing. It would take time to properly internalize and learn from them. So, seeing live Pokémon truly hammered in his current situation—he had transmigrated into the Pokémon world.
His starting situation was less than ideal, but he could work with it. He was a fighter. He would fight back with everything he had and more. He would take advantage of his knowledge and carve out a place for himself in this world.
He would be a Pokémon trainer.