Vita Magicis (HP SI-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 51: Welcome to Kanto

The world around us twisted as we stepped through the portal, colors smearing into streaks of gold and white before snapping back into focus.

Warm sunlight kissed my face.

A soft breeze brushed across the hill, carrying the scent of wildflowers and… something sweet. Like honey and fresh leaves.

Birdsong drifted through the calm air, except it wasn’t birds. High-pitched melodic chirps and trills, strangely familiar yet otherworldly.

We stood overlooking a peaceful little town, red-roofed houses nestled among rolling green fields. Far in the distance, the ocean sparkled beneath a clear blue sky.

At the very top of the hill sat a familiar structure: white walls, an observatory dome, and a slow-turning wind turbine catching the breeze.

Professor Oak’s lab.

And only a few steps ahead, a tiny purple-and-white Pokémon blinked at us sleepily from the grass.

“...Rata?”

A Rattata. The very first one.

The girls fell silent, staring around with wide eyes.

“I used to stare at drawings of this place for hours…” I whispered, a mix of nostalgia and disbelief tightening my chest.

Rin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, voice soft with awe. “So this is where it begins.”

Ginny gasped. Daphne froze. Hermione squeaked. Luna looked like she had reached enlightenment. The rest simply stared — breath caught, hearts pounding.

I breathed in the air — impossibly fresh, impossibly real — and grinned.

“Welcome to Pallet Town,” I announced. “The beginning of our Pokémon journey.”

=====

“Alright, first order of business,” I clapped my hands loudly, snapping everyone out of their daze. “I know you all want to start exploring immediately, but please hear me out for a few moments.”

A chorus of reluctant groans followed, Luna and Hermione being the loudest offenders, but they quieted down and focused.

“Since we’re in a new world, the first thing we obviously need in order to blend in is identification, right?” I asked with a smile, amused when several blinked in dawning realization.

“Without it, we can’t register for official Gym battles or other important activities. And since it was never specifically stated in canon, we might even need it to buy Pokémon supplies like potions and Poké Balls, which we definitely need if we want to capture Pokémon.” I continued calmly.

“Of course! How did I not think of that?” Hermione groaned, slapping her forehead dramatically.

“Probably the same reason we didn’t think of it,” Astoria said with a shrug. “Too busy being excited about traveling to another world.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” I reassured them with a grin as I opened my inventory and pulled out a neat stack of cards. “Luckily for everyone, I came prepared. Please form a line and I’ll hand you your Trainer Cards, basically your IDs here since we don’t have Pokédexes.”

“Great job thinking ahead, Onii-chan~!” Illya chimed immediately, already first in line. “I knew I could count on you.”

“It was my idea to bring you all here, it’s only fair I cover the logistics,” I said casually, handing her a card and beginning to pass out the rest.

Normally, getting these would require parental approval or a professor’s involvement, but thanks to the Paper Trail perk from the Company, everyone automatically had documentation suitable for this world. Made things very convenient.

Once everyone had their cards, I cleared my throat.

“One more thing before we head out. Since none of you have a taming ability or anything like that, we’ll need Poké Balls to actually capture Pokémon. Unfortunately, Pallet Town doesn’t sell any, we’ll have to go through Route 1 to reach Viridian City first.”

“Once we’re there, we can stock up on everything required in this world, Poké Balls, healing items, proper Pokémon food, whatever you need.”

I looked around, hands in my pockets. “Alright. Before we start, any questions?”

“Let’s go already!” Ginny cheered, her excitement echoed by everyone else. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Hmhmhm, very well. Let’s be on our way then.” I said as we began walking toward Route 1. “And while we're heading to the city, I have another surprise for you. If you think the word HUD, a screen should pop up in front of your eyes.”

Everyone focused, and then a chorus of gasps followed as translucent screens flickered into existence.

“While we might not have a Pokédex, this works just as well. You can search it for Pokémon data, browse species, and plan your team. Just remember, we’re in the Kanto region, so don’t expect tons of out-of-region Pokémon.”

All thanks to the HUD perk. Best investment ever.

“Oooh, this is awesome~!” Illya squealed, already swiping through invisible menus and waving her hands around like a over caffeinated child.

“It has a map feature too. Wicked! Now we won’t get lost.” Rose said with sparkling eyes.

“So this is how you always know where you're going.” Daphne muttered, poking her HUD suspiciously.

“There are so many~” Luna breathed in awe as she scrolled, and I couldn't stop myself from chuckling before wrapping an arm around her.

“I told you, didn’t I?” I said with a smile. “Stick with me, and you’ll never run out of new species to discover.”

Luna leaned closer, warmth radiating off her as she pressed against me. She looked up, kissed me softly, and when she pulled away her cheeks were dusted pink.

“Thank you for bringing me here, Aether. But most of all… thank you for being part of my life.”

“It’s my pleasure,” I murmured, kissing her forehead. “And you don’t ever have to thank me. I’m the lucky one, all of us are, to have you.”

Her smile only brightened as she nestled back into my side.

The rest of the girls were too absorbed in their HUDs to notice, aside from Daphne, whose brief jealous pout vanished into a blush the moment our eyes met.

‘Hmhm, this is going to be a fun few weeks… for more than one reason.’ I thought with amusement.

=====

It didn’t take long to run into our first wild Pokémon, a group of Pidgey pecking peacefully in the tall grass.

“Oooh, a Pidgey, right?” Illya whispered excitedly.

“I want one.” Astoria declared immediately. “Its final evolution is Pidgeot and they’re big enough to ride. Imagine training one to deliver mail! The looks on everyone’s faces at Hogwarts when a majestic bird swoops in with my letters~” Her grin was practically evil.

“Funny enough, mail-Pidgey do exist here,” I said thoughtfully. “So it wouldn’t be hard to train one I bet.”

Rin meanwhile stared warily at a pair of Rattata sitting in a tree, staring right back at us. “I don’t know how I feel about… those though.”

Daphne and Rose nodded solemnly like they'd been personally offended by the existence of purple rodents.

“Wait until you see some of the more weird ones.” I chuckled quietly to myself only getting incredulous looks in return.

“Anyway, the only other Pokémon here is Spearow,” I added. “They’re a bit aggressive. Not great for a first partner unless you're craving trauma so I wouldn’t recommend one for a first pick.”

Ash’s encounters with them played in my mind.

I had decided to bring us to the video game version of the world since I didn’t want to deal with possibly running into the Team Rocket trio and their shenanigans.

That said though, I still had the Universal Calibration perk, meaning that anything that happened in the anime or movies was still valid here too for the most part.

“I like it here,” Sakura murmured softly, taking in the peaceful scenery.

“That’s the Creature Defense perk at work,” I reminded them. “Wild Pokémon normally do attack travelers on occasion. That’s why trainers never travel without a partner and why you don’t see too much traffic between towns traveling by foot.”

Ginny paled. “They attack people even when they look that cute…? That's nightmare fuel.”

“Oh, absolutely.” Illya said far too cheerfully. That smile of hers? Yeah, that was her sadism.exe booting up.

‘She is 100% planning to weaponize a baby Pokémon for emotional warfare.’ I mentally sighed. As long as her target isn’t me, it's fine.

“I see Viridian City!” Rin called out from ahead. “Let’s hurry. I want to dismantle one of those Poké Balls, just based on the description alone, the inside sounds like pure psychological horror if Pokémon spend most of their life in one.”

“Ooh! Maybe we can use them on people once we learn how they work.” Illya chimed in.

“…Those two are really scary sometimes,” Daphne whispered as she moved up beside me.

“Sometimes?” I arched a brow. “Try always. Be grateful we’re on their ‘do not torture’ list.”

“I heard that!” Rin shot back, giving me the stink-eye.

“You were supposed to!” I replied, rolling my eyes.

We spent the rest of the walk just like that, chatting, teasing, gawking at random Pokémon, and occasionally worrying about what horrors Rin and Illya would invent in a world full of adorable monsters.

=====

The moment we stepped past the last stretch of Route 1, Viridian City came into view.

Warm sunlight filtered through tall pine trees. The distant sound of a fountain mixed with cheerful voices and the flutter of wings. Clean streets, bright rooftops, and a soft breeze that carried the smell of fresh soil and berries, it all felt… surprisingly peaceful. Cozy, even.

“It’s surprisingly futuristic…” Ginny breathed.

“It’s like a fairytale town,” Rose whispered, starry-eyed.

“It’s… bigger than I thought,” Rin said bluntly. “I was expecting something more… rural.”

Illya poked her arm. “Our arrival town probably gave you the wrong impression huh, gorilla.”

“Unfortunately,” Rin muttered. “And stop calling me that, brat.”

Luna turned slowly in a circle, her eyes glimmering like she’d just been blessed by the universe. “I feel like I’m dreaming right now and I don’t want to wake up.”

I chuckled. “Trust me, you’re not dreaming Luna. If you are, that means that we’re all dreaming the same dream.”

A pair of Pidgey flew low overhead, and Ginny squeaked and tried to reach out to one on reflex.

The Pidgey squawked angrily and flew faster.

“…I wanted to touch it,” she mumbled.

“You just tried to grab a wild bird mid-flight,” Daphne said gently. “I don’t think that even works with real birds.”

“It might in this world,” Ginny pouted.

Fair point.

As we walked toward the Pokémon Center, Asako slowed, ears flicking. “There is… a humongous presence I’m sensing right now.”

Bella nodded. “I feel it too. Whatever it is, it’s powerful.” She was suddenly alert with her hand sliding into her wand.

Having felt it too, I looked around for a moment before looking up and widening my eyes in awe.

In the distance, too far for the common eye to see, a huge golden bird flew through a rainbow before disappearing, the moment passing too quickly for most of the girls to notice. The notable exceptions of course being those with keen eyesight like Rin, Sakura, Illya and Asako.

And Luna somehow, who blinked slowly. “I think I just saw a big bird.”

My smile froze just barely.

So she saw that too.

We had just seen an extremely rare sight. Ho-Oh, the Legendary Rainbow Pokémon. Or possibly Mew transformed into it, one of the two.

I casually turned away, voice light. “I’ll tell you about it later once we’re in private.”

Understanding the silent message, Luna nodded her head and said nothing more.

“Póké~mooooon Center!” Illya sang, grabbing my hand and dragging me forward like a kid to a candy shop.

The automatic doors slid open with a soft chime.

Nurse Joy looked up, pink hair, gentle smile, uniform pristine, and for a moment she froze as all of us filed in. Her gaze flickered between the monster girls, the witches, and my very tired 'I've wrangled twelve magical girls today' expression.

“…Welcome to the Viridian City Pokémon Center!” she chirped brightly, smile definitely 10% forced. “What can I do for you today?”

Hermione gasped. “She looks real. And you’re saying there’s an identical Nurse Joy for every Pokémon Center!?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Rin deadpanned. “Though I admit that she having like a thousand twins is a bit creepy.”

Hermione swatted her. “Rin!”

Joy blinked with a bit of sweat forming on the back of her head. “Um… I take it this is your first time in a Pokémon Center?”

Illya puffed her chest. “Yup. We’re dimensional explorers.”

“Illya,” I sighed.

“What? Accuracy matters.”

Nurse Joy just smiled the smile of someone paid to ignore strange people until they go away.

“I apologize about them Nurse Joy; this is their first time in a city as big as Viridian.” I said nervously before coughing into my hand and moving the conversation along. “Anyway, I was wondering if we could get some lodgings for the evening?”

“Of course, I will just need to see some identification,” she said with a smile thankfully deciding to move on from the girl’s rudeness. “Feel free to check out our buffet table later if you’re hungry too.”

“Woo~ Awesome!” Artoria said with a cheer.

Rin narrowed her eyes. “Why did she look at me when she said that?”

Illya nodded. “Because you’re a gorilla of course.”

“I am NOT!”

Ignoring their bickering I passed her my trainer card and silently breathed out in relief when she handed it back to me moments later and gave me some room keys that I gladly took off her hands.

Once that was handled, Nurse Joy went back to whatever she was doing and did her best to pretend we didn’t exist which was fair. The girls had been pretty disrespectful so far.

Letting out a small sigh figuring I better get used it, I released it and let a slow smile curl. “Alright everyone — first stop: supplies. Second stop: exploring the city. Third stop—”

“Catching a cute Pokémon!” Astoria declared.

“Understanding the metaphysical construction of Poké Ball internals,” Rin added.

“Finding something that breathes fire,” Sakura murmured, eyes sparkling somewhat ominously.

“Not getting arrested,” Daphne said pointedly.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Ginny grinned.

I took a breath, silently asking my past self why I thought it was a good idea to spend time with more than a dozen girls and not end up ripping my hair out.

This was either going to be the greatest vacation ever…

…or my biggest nightmare dealing with everyone’s quirkiness.

“Master, why don’t you go ahead with everyone while I make us something to eat for when you return?” Ilulu asked with a gentle smile.

I couldn’t help but grin. ‘At least I can always count on Ilulu to feed us delicious food. That has to count for something.’

“Ilulu, I could kiss you right now,” I said, making the elf blush in the cutest way. “But I’ll save it for later.”

I turned back to the others and resigned myself to another day of shopping, though the thrill of being in the Pokémon world still buzzed through me. “Let’s go, girls. We have plenty to do before the day ends.”

Before I could finish, Illya and Astoria grabbed my hands and dragged me outside; everyone else followed, chattering excitedly.

‘I kind of hope Jesse and James exist in this world,’ I thought with a wry smile. ‘At least then I could blow off steam by kicking their asses.’