The last thing Ren remembered was the bus.
No, that wasn't quite right. The last thing he remembered was the video.
His phone had been in his hand, earbuds in, watching yet another leak about the upcoming Pokemon X and Y games. The uploader's voice had been breathless with excitement: "And this is called Mega Evolution! Look at Mega Blaziken, guys, it's got Speed Boost and-"
Then the screech of tires.
The bus swerving.
His body weightless, flying, the world spinning.
Impact.
Nothing.
Now there was light.
Harsh, burning sunlight stabbing through his eyelids. Ren groaned, tried to lift his hand to shield his face, and discovered several things simultaneously:
One: His entire body ached like he'd been thrown into a cement mixer.
Two: He was lying on sand.
Three: He was wearing... a hospital gown?
Ren's eyes snapped open.
Blue sky. Endless, cloudless blue sky stretching overhead. The sound of waves crashing nearby. The cry of bird Pokemon. Wait, just birds? The smell of salt and seaweed.
He sat up slowly, wincing at the protests from every muscle. His vision swam, then focused.
Beach. He was on a beach. White sand stretched in both directions, curving into dense tropical foliage. The ocean sparkled impossibly clear in the sunlight, and in the distance, he could see the shadow of other islands.
"What the hell...?"
His voice came out raspy, throat dry as sandpaper. Ren looked down at himself. Thin medical gown, the kind you'd wear in a hospital. Bare feet. And his hands-
He froze.
Scars. Thin, surgical-looking scars crisscrossed the backs of his hands, disappearing up his forearms beneath the gown's sleeves. He didn't remember having those. Actually, he didn't remember much of anything after the bus accident.
The bus accident.
"Oh god. Am I dead?"
He looked around frantically. This didn't look like any afterlife he'd imagined. Too real. Too hot. Too present. His heart was pounding. He could feel it. And dead people didn't have heartbeats, right?
Ren staggered to his feet, swaying. The world tilted, and he grabbed a nearby palm tree for support. His reflection caught in a tidal pool near his feet, and he stared.
Blue hair.
Blue hair.
Not dyed blue. Not a trick of the light. Genuinely, naturally blue hair, slightly darker than the sky, falling messily around his face. And his eyes-
"Yellow?" he whispered, leaning closer. "My eyes are yellow?"
Not the amber-brown he remembered. Bright yellow, almost gold in the sunlight.
This wasn't his body.
No, wait. It was his face. Mostly. Younger than he remembered. Seventeen, maybe eighteen instead of twenty-three. But the basic structure was the same. Just... modified. Changed.
"Okay," Ren said slowly, backing away from his reflection. "Okay. So I died in the bus accident. And now I'm... somewhere else. In someone else's body. Except it's kind of my body but not really."
He was talking to himself. That was fine. Perfectly normal response to waking up on a deserted island in a strange body after dying.
Transmigration.
The word popped into his head unbidden. He'd read enough light novels, played enough games. Person dies, wakes up in another world. Usually with some kind of cheat ability or system to help them-
Movement overhead caught his attention. A white and blue bird circled above, crying out as it searched for fish in the surf.
Ren squinted up at it, and a translucent blue screen flickered into existence in front of his face.
He yelped and stumbled backward, landing hard on the sand.
The screen followed his vision, staying centered no matter where he looked. Simple text appeared:
[Species: Wingull
Level: 14
Gender: Female
Type: Water/Flying
HP: 92%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Water Gun, Supersonic, Wing Attack, Growl
Ability: Keen Eye
Nature: Hasty]
Ren stared at the screen for a long moment. He glanced up at the Wingull still circling overhead.
He looked back at the screen.
Then he started laughing.
It came out slightly hysterical, echoing across the empty beach. "Pokemon? Pokemon? I died watching a Pokemon leak and got reincarnated into the Pokemon world with a game system?"
The absurdity of it hit him like a wave. Of all the worlds, all the possible isekai destinations, fantasy kingdoms, cultivation worlds, space operas, he got Pokemon. The franchise he'd been obsessed with since childhood. The games he'd played through a dozen times each.
The irony was almost beautiful.
"Okay," he said, forcing himself to calm down. "Okay. So. Transmigration. Pokemon world. System ability. I can work with this."
He focused on the Wingull again, and the screen remained. Looked away, and it vanished. Looked back, and it reappeared.
Ren tried thinking different commands. Menu. Status. Inventory. Settings. Help.
Nothing changed. The screen only showed the Wingull's information.
A Krabby scuttled across the sand nearby. Ren focused on it, and the display updated instantly:
[Species: Krabby
Level: 9
Gender: Male
Type: Water
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Bubble, Leer, Vice Grip, Harden
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Nature: Adamant]
"So it just... shows Pokemon stats when I focus on them. That's it." Ren looked away, watching the system vanish. "No other features. No menu. No storage. Just a Pokedex that appears in my vision."
Well. Better than nothing, he supposed.
A rustling sound from the treeline made him freeze.
Something was moving through the underbrush. Something large enough to shake the ferns. Ren's heart rate spiked, and he looked around frantically for anything he could use as a weapon.
A thick branch. He grabbed it, backing toward the water.
The rustling grew louder. Closer.
Then a Pokemon burst from the foliage.
Ren's breath caught. It looked like a fish with legs, blue scales, and a massive jaw full of teeth. He focused on it, and the system activated:
[Species: Carvanha
Level: 18
Gender: Male
Type: Water/Dark
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Bite, Screech, Swagger, Ice Fang, Assurance
Ability: Rough Skin
Nature: Rash]
Carvanha. Right. Piranha Pokemon. Aggressive.
The Carvanha's eyes locked onto Ren. Its mouth full of serrated teeth spread into what could only be called a predatory grin.
"Oh, shit."
Ren didn't think. He just ran.
His bare feet pounded across the sand as the Carvanha launched itself through the shallow water, snapping at his heels. He could hear it behind him, that horrible chattering sound its teeth made.
He wasn't going to make it to the treeline. Too far. Too slow.
The Carvanha lunged.
Ren spun, swinging the branch with everything he had.
The branch connected with the Carvanha's head with a meaty thwack. The Pokemon went flying, actually flying, and crashed into the sand fifteen feet away, dazed.
Ren stared at the branch in his hands. Then at the Carvanha. Then back at his hands.
"What."
That shouldn't have worked. That definitely shouldn't have sent a nearly twenty-pound fish-shark Pokemon flying like a baseball. He wasn't strong. He'd been a software developer, for god's sake. His exercise routine consisted of walking to the vending machine.
The Carvanha shook itself off, snarled, and retreated into the water, apparently deciding this prey wasn't worth the trouble.
Ren stood there, chest heaving, staring at his hands.
"Transmigration perk," he whispered. "Has to be. Enhanced physical abilities."
He filed that information away. Strange body, strange hair and eyes, enhanced strength. All part of the transmigration package, apparently. Nothing to worry about.
The adrenaline was fading now, leaving him shaky and aware of just how thirsty he was. His throat felt like sandpaper. When was the last time he'd had water?
He couldn't remember.
Actually, he didn't remember much of anything before the bus. His name. Ren. He was pretty sure that was right. He'd been twenty-three, lived alone, worked in software development, played Pokemon in his free time. But the details were fuzzy, like trying to remember a dream.
Didn't matter right now. Right now, he needed water. Food. Shelter.
"Survival mode," Ren muttered, scanning the beach. "Think. You've played survival games. You know the basics."
Fresh water first. Then shelter. Then food.
He headed inland, away from the beach. A small bird Pokemon darted overhead. Ren focused on it briefly:
[Species: Taillow
Level: 8
Gender: Female
Type: Normal/Flying
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Peck, Growl, Focus Energy
Ability: Guts
Nature: Jolly]
Taillow. Normal-Flying type, evolves into Swellow. He remembered those being pretty fast in the games.
A bug Pokemon crawled across a nearby tree trunk. He glanced at it:
[Species: Wurmple
Level: 4
Gender: Female
Type: Bug
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Tackle, String Shot
Ability: Shield Dust
Nature: Timid]
Wurmple. Caterpillar thing that evolved into either Beautifly or Dustox depending on... personality value? He'd never figured out how that worked in the actual games.
Most Pokemon fled when he got close, and he didn't blame them. He probably looked like a mess. Wild blue hair, strange yellow eyes, hospital gown flapping in the breeze, still holding his makeshift branch-club.
The sound of running water reached his ears.
Ren pushed through a curtain of ferns and found himself at a small freshwater pond, fed by a stream trickling down from higher ground. Crystal clear water, surrounded by smooth rocks and moss.
He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life.
Ren dropped to his knees at the water's edge and cupped his hands, drinking greedily. It was cold, clean, perfect. He drank until his stomach hurt, then splashed water on his face, washing away dried salt and sand.
A soft chirping sound made him look up.
A Pokemon sat on the opposite side of the pond, watching him with large, curious eyes. It looked like a lily pad with a face, light blue body supporting a large green leaf on its head.
Ren focused on it:
[Species: Lotad
Level: 8
Gender: Male
Type: Water/Grass
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Astonish, Growl, Absorb, Mist
Ability: Rain Dish
Nature: Calm]
Lotad. Water-Grass type, the lily pad Pokemon. Evolved into Lombre and then Ludicolo with a Water Stone. It wasn't fleeing or attacking, just... watching.
The Lotad tilted its head, the lily pad on top wobbling slightly.
"Hey," Ren said quietly. His voice was still rough. "Thanks for the water."
The Lotad chirped again, something that might have been acknowledgment.
They stared at each other for a long moment.
Then another Pokemon appeared. A brown beaver-like creature waddled out of the underbrush with a dopey expression. It went straight to the water and began drinking, completely ignoring Ren's presence.
Ren focused on it:
[Species: Bidoof
Level: 6
Gender: Male
Type: Normal
HP: 100%
Status: Healthy
Known Moves: Tackle, Growl, Defense Curl
Ability: Simple
Nature: Lax]
"Bidoof," Ren murmured. "The most useful HM slave in the games."
He caught himself immediately. That sounded wrong. This wasn't a game sprite. It was a real creature, drinking water with single-minded focus, its flat tail slapping against the ground occasionally.
The Bidoof finished drinking and plopped down at the water's edge, sprawling out like it didn't have a care in the world. It couldn't care less about the weird human nearby.
The Lotad drifted closer to Ren's side of the pond, still watching him with those curious eyes.
Ren looked between them, then back at his reflection in the water. Blue hair, yellow eyes, scars on his hands.
He had so many questions.
But right now, with the sun setting and his stomach starting to growl, those questions would have to wait.