Pokémon—those strange creatures that wander the boundary between reality and fantasy.
In this world, Pokémon of countless forms and wildly different habits lived everywhere.
Beneath the endless blue sky, they could be found across mountains, plains, deserts, forests, and the quiet depths of the sea.
Even bustling cities were home to countless Pokémon.
The stories of Pokémon and humans unfolded quietly in every corner of this vast world.
…
Kanto Region, Pallet Town.
The morning mist had yet to fade, and the town was wrapped in a pale golden glow.
At Professor Oak’s summer camp, tiny beads of dew still clung to the lush green grass.
A young man wearing a red baseball cap lay flat on his back in the grass.
His cap was tilted to one side, revealing messy short black hair.
He wore a hoodie with the Pokémon League emblem printed on the chest, paired with dark blue jeans and white sneakers.
A few blades of grass were stuck to the cuffs of his pants.
He narrowed his eyes at the clouds drifting overhead, his right hand unconsciously rubbing the League emblem on his chest.
Suddenly, a Pichu poked its head out from beside him.
Its tiny tail brushed against his cheek, making him burst into bright laughter.
“Six years,” the young man thought as he gazed at the floating clouds.
A quiet sigh rose in his heart.
“It’s already been six years since I became Ash.”
The dew-damp grass gently brushed against his wrist, carrying a cool, moist chill.
Pichu was curled up in his arms, dozing off.
Its little paws twitched every so often as it let out faint purring sounds.
But the young man’s thoughts drifted back to a distant time and place—to a world known as Blue Star.
As a Pokémon fan, he had followed Ash’s adventures countless times through the anime, from Pallet Town to the Hoenn League, and had even caught up with the latest Pokémon Horizons.
In real life, what he loved most were the single-player Pokémon games.
His fingers were more familiar with entering cheat codes than reciting multiplication tables.
A complete Pokédex, perfect IVs, all shiny Pokémon…
Who could have imagined that, on some late night spent debugging cheat codes, his life would come to an end?
When his consciousness awakened again, he was already lying in swaddling clothes, with a gentle woman’s voice sounding beside his ear.
“Let’s call you Ash.”
…
Looking at the Pichu in his arms, the young man could not help laughing softly.
Fate had fulfilled his wildest dream in the most absurd way possible.
“Ah, found you, Ash.”
A crisp voice, as clear as a wind chime, came from behind him, carrying a playful little lilt.
Brown hair swayed lightly as its owner ran over.
The young woman braced her hands on her knees, bending over as she gasped for breath.
Her black suspender dress fluttered in the breeze.
“Ash, you snuck out to slack off again!”
Then another gentle female voice followed.
Beneath similarly brown hair was a face wearing a helpless smile.
She pushed her hat toward the back of her head and said, “Ash, why are you lying there all by yourself?
Why are you sleeping in broad daylight?
This is Professor Oak’s Pokémon ecology lecture.
It’d be such a waste to miss it.”
“Leaf, Blue, please spare me,” Ash said, pulling his cap down tightly over his entire face.
His muffled protest came from beneath the brim.
“I stayed up late writing reports last night, and today I still had to come to summer camp with you two.
Let me rest for a bit.”
Under his casually stretched-out arm, Pichu rolled over.
Its tiny paw rested on Ash’s wrist, its tail drooping onto the grass.
That was right.
The youngest professor.
Relying on the knowledge from his previous life, he had published major research results on Eevee’s eight evolutions.
Aside from Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon, which had already been known in the Kanto region, he had also revealed the evolution methods for Leafeon, Glaceon, Espeon, Umbreon, and Sylveon—forms that had yet to be discovered.
On top of that, he had named Sylveon’s attribute as the Fairy type.
With those outstanding achievements, Ash’s reputation as a “child prodigy” had spread rapidly through the Pokémon League and become firmly established.
He had been promoted to professor as an exception.
The rustle of grass drew closer.
Blue’s fingers, carrying a faint minty fragrance, suddenly flipped his cap away.
Her hair brushed across the tip of Ash’s nose.
“You’re using reports as an excuse again!
You research maniac.”
Leaf knelt beside him, her skirt brushing over dew-speckled clovers.
Her fingertip lightly poked the crease between his brows.
“Ash is still the same as ever.
Always pushing himself too hard.”
Ash opened his eyes and looked at the two familiar faces.
His throat moved unconsciously.
Yes.
Leaf and Blue.
This world was a little different from the Pokémon he had watched in his previous life.
Leaf and Blue existed here.
They should have been characters from the special manga.
They should not have appeared in Ash’s story.
And yet not only had they appeared, they had become his childhood friends and naturally woven themselves into his life.
Was anyone still arguing over whether Blue and Leaf were the same person?
No need to argue now.
I’m writing them both in.
“Please.
I’m the youngest professor in the Pokémon League, you know.” Ash propped himself up, his eyes carrying a hint of pride and mischief as his fingers casually stroked Pichu’s ear.
“Analyzing Pokémon data reports is way more exhausting than field exploration.
If you two want to learn about some unusual Pokémon evolution methods, I can tell you while lying down.”
He deliberately dragged out the end of his sentence, raising an eyebrow at Blue and winking at Leaf.
Blue planted one hand on her hip, a smile flashing through her eyes.
“Stop using your professor title to pressure us!
Weren’t you the one who said yesterday that once you became a Pokémon Trainer, you’d travel all over the world?”
Leaf nodded gently.
“All right, get up.”
Her slender fingers wrapped around Ash’s wrist.
The warmth of her palm passed through his thin sleeve.
Then she started running toward the camp.
Blue had already scooped up Pichu and chased after them.
This Pichu was the future Pikachu—the legend himself.
Using his knowledge of the plot, Ash had gone straight to find Pikachu while it was still in its Pichu stage.
Not only had he successfully won it over with ketchup, he had also brought home its Kangaskhan mother along the way.
…
“Ash, if you keep dawdling, Professor Oak’s lecture is going to end.
Relax once in a while, okay?
Don’t spend all your time thinking about research,” Leaf said.
When she turned around, the ends of her hair brushed past his nose, carrying a faint lily-of-the-valley fragrance.
Blue held the struggling Pichu securely with one hand while using the other to tug Ash backward by the brim of his cap.
“Exactly!
Last time, you said you were going to train Pichu in a new move, but you were the one who slipped off to the lab first!”
“Pichu—!” Pichu protested, the electric sacs on its cheeks glowing faintly.
The figures of three people and one little Pokémon soon blended into the lively camp.
Ash was caught between the two young women, listening to them complain back and forth.
Yet the corners of his mouth rose uncontrollably.
He lazily let Leaf pull him forward, but beneath the brim of his cap, his lips curved into a confident smile.
In his previous life, he had watched Ash through a screen and felt anxious on his behalf.
The guy had been a straight man made of reinforced concrete.
A girl would say, “If you lose to me, you have to go on a date with me.”
And he would answer directly, “I won’t lose.”
Seriously?
That was the kind of romantic luck that could make Brock grind his teeth to dust with envy.
But now, Ash was him.
So that kind of thing would absolutely never happen again.
He looked at the two laughing, chasing figures ahead, his emotions complicated.
He took a deep breath.
His chest filled with the scent of grass and flowers.
“Man, I hope I can be Shido, not Makoto.”
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
With the system around, everything seemed a lot more reassuring.
That was right.
[A System.]
His golden finger, bound to him when he transmigrated.
Every time he won a battle, he could obtain a reward.
And hidden even deeper was an ultimate function that made his blood boil.
Cheat codes.
Memories from his previous life surged through him—madly entering cheat codes, farming Pokémon, farming shinies, adjusting stats, grinding items.
“With the system, it shouldn’t be that hard,” he murmured to himself, his eyes shining with both anticipation and caution.
But when Blue turned back and waved at him, and Leaf smiled as she called for him to hurry up, he suddenly felt that perhaps this was the best arrangement fate could have given him.
With the memories of his previous life, he would write his own story in this world full of miracles.
A story of Ash without regrets.
Those achievements he could only unlock with cheat codes in games, those moments where he had felt sorry for Ash through a screen, were now surging through his mind with unstoppable momentum.
He would catch the strongest Pokémon.
He would climb to the peak as League Champion.
And those moments he had missed, those regrets, those heart-stirring opportunities—he would grasp them all firmly in his hands.
After all, this time, he was no longer a spectator.
He narrowed his eyes at the two laughing figures fooling around ahead of him, his lips curving with absolute confidence.
The breeze swept past the brim of his cap, scattering the sharp light in his eyes into tiny fragments.
Pichu seemed to sense its trainer’s mood.
Its little paw gently patted his cheek as it let out a puzzled, “Pi?”
Hidden inside this body was no longer the naive, reckless young trainer from before.
In his previous life, he had sighed countless times over all the opportunities Ash had missed.
Now, he had been reborn into this world filled with possibilities.
Every regret left behind by the original story would become a stepping stone beneath his feet on the road to becoming Champion.
“Ash!
Hurry up!” Blue’s urging voice pulled him back to reality.
As she turned, the arc of her fluttering hair overlapped perfectly with an unfinished frame in his memory.
He lifted his foot and chased after that lively figure, already knowing the answer in his heart.
Whether it was the Champion’s trophy or the partners walking beside him, everything that belonged to him in this world—he would hold onto it tightly.