Chapter 1: Escape Through the Dense Forest

After spending the entire morning getting used to the body that was twenty years younger, Hu Yang finally accepted the reality of his transmigration.

Six hours ago, Hu Yang was still a wizard selling magical sprites on PeachBao, the online marketplace. He had just received a huge order for three hundred custom 6v top-tier sprites and was preparing for a sleepless night to modify them all. But after finishing just one, his vision suddenly went black, and when he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a completely different world.

Stiffly watching as a thirty-centimeter-long green bug crawled over his body, Hu Yang was finally sure he had crossed into the world of Pokémon.

As a fan of Pokémon, and having been a solitary figure in his previous world, the chance to transmigrate into his favorite universe should have been a cause for celebration.

But his current predicament left him anything but excited.

Damn! Other people who transmigrate always end up in bustling cities, but he was thrown straight into a remote, uninhabited mountain forest!

Just minutes ago, he had barely escaped the territory of the green caterpillars, only to stumble into a dense thicket inhabited by Beedrill!

Everyone knows Beedrill are notoriously aggressive, easily enraged, and fiercely territorial. If anyone enters their domain, there’s a 99.9 percent chance they’ll be attacked.

Staring at the Beedrill before him, with its pair of red eyes and two thick white poisonous stingers glinting ominously in the shadows, Hu Yang couldn’t help but swallow hard.

If those stingers pierced his body, his career as a trainer would be over before it ever began.

“Bzzzz!”

A strange buzzing sound came from the Beedrill’s mouthparts. Hu Yang was sure it was anything but friendly.

Sure enough, the next moment, the bushes around him rustled, and pairs of ruby-like eyes emerged from the shadows.

Hu Yang bolted.

He could hear the vibrating wings of the Beedrill right behind him.

A forest path appeared in his vision, and a sudden sense of being in a game of Temple Run came over him.

“Thunk!”

A sharp pain in his waist snapped his attention back to reality.

He’d been struck by a Beedrill’s poisonous stinger—painful, oh so painful!

He lamented his fate. Was the universe out to get him?

Just then, a river suddenly appeared to his left.

The sight nearly made him cry with relief.

He quickly changed direction and dove headfirst into the water.

At this moment, he was immensely grateful he had learned to swim before transmigrating.

Water flooded his ears and nose. Holding his breath, he frantically felt around and touched something hard.

Opening his eyes in the rushing current, he saw a creature with vacant eyes and red scales all over its body.

My goodness, wasn’t that the legendary Magikarp?

The Magikarp started to struggle, and swept along by the current, Hu Yang lost his grip.

The next moment, he experienced firsthand the meaning of “cold rain beating chaotically against the face,” as the lyrics go.

His eyes stung with tears from the blows, and worse, he couldn’t surface.

Through the water, he could see the swarm of Beedrill circling above, clearly unwilling to let him go.

He couldn’t stay here.

Holding his breath, he began to swim downstream.

After swimming ten meters, he surfaced to catch his breath, then submerged again.

He didn’t know how long he swam, but after making sure the Beedrill hadn’t followed, Hu Yang finally climbed ashore.

Looking at the reflection of his handsome face on the water’s surface, even twenty years younger, Hu Yang instantly recognized his ten-year-old self.

No wonder I was such a good-looking kid at ten, he thought.

The chaos had left his clothes completely soaked.

Earlier, he’d noticed the leaves in the forest were turning yellow; if his guess was right, it must be autumn.

He was still wearing the clothes from before transmigrating: a white short-sleeved shirt with a blue sports jacket on top, and gray sweatpants below.

After making sure there was no immediate danger, Hu Yang took off his clothes to inspect the wound from the Beedrill’s attack.

Thanks to the fabric, the translucent purple stinger hadn’t fully penetrated his body.

Using a leaf, Hu Yang pulled out the stinger and saw the skin around the puncture had turned a faint purple, accompanied by a burning pain.

Clearly, he was poisoned.

Despair washed over him.

Pokémon lose stamina and eventually faint when poisoned—but what about humans?

He dared not imagine.

And then, his stomach growled, making things even worse.

He was hungry.

Earlier, he’d noticed many fruit-like objects growing on the trees in the forest—they must be the so-called “berries” of this world.

Unlike ordinary fruit, different berries possess unique effects. For example, Cheri Berries cure paralysis, Rawst Berries heal burns, and most importantly for him, Pecha Berries cure poison.

But would berries work on humans?

Besides berries, Hu Yang had also seen plenty of regular fish in the river.

Just as he suspected, the Pokémon world had ordinary animals alongside Pokémon.

He grabbed his jacket to use as a cushion and lay down to rest—the recent exertion had left him exhausted.

Looking through the patchy canopy at the clear sky, he thought:

The most important thing now is to get out of the forest, find a human town, and seek a cure for the poison.

The forest was vast; finding berry trees was difficult enough, let alone finding Pecha Berries.

As he pondered, he suddenly felt something poking his waist.

Sitting up, he picked up his jacket and from the pocket pulled out a small purple sphere.

He didn’t know what he touched, but the sphere quickly expanded in his hand, returning to its normal form.

When he saw it clearly, Hu Yang was stunned.

Purple on top, white on the bottom, a white button in the center, and an “M” symbol above it.

This was... a Master Ball from the game.

How could this be?

He pressed the button, and with a click, the Master Ball opened, releasing a beam of white light.

From the light emerged a Pokémon covered in orange feathers.

But not entirely orange—the feathers around its chest and neck were a vivid white, resembling a napkin tied around the neck of a Westerner at dinner.

“Caw!”

The Pokémon held its head with its wings and stared at him with vacant, round eyes.

Hu Yang looked at it.

It looked at Hu Yang.

The next second, a flood of information abruptly filled Hu Yang’s mind.

[Species: Ancient Moonbird ♂ (Shiny)]
Type: Flying, Water
Ability: Missile Launcher
Base Stats: 1530 (HP: 255, Attack: 255, Defense: 255, Sp. Attack: 255, Sp. Defense: 255, Speed: 255)
Known Moves: [Precipice Blades], [Origin Pulse], [Spacial Rend], [Roar of Time]
Current Mood: &#!+!#
Condition: Perfect
Friendship: 100 (You are its favorite trainer, it loves you more than itself)

!!!

Hu Yang was shocked.

Wasn’t this the first sprite he had just modified for a customer?

Ancient Moonbird, a shiny Ancient Moonbird, a Pokémon from the Galar region.

In the game, Ancient Moonbird is described as follows:

[Although Ancient Moonbird is very forgetful, it never forgets a trainer with whom it has established a bond of trust.
But if its food is stolen, it will attack ruthlessly, even if the opponent is its trainer.]

Because it was the first test sprite, its six base stats had been set absurdly high.

Its four moves were deliberately chosen for fun.

Not only the Ancient Moonbird, but even the software he used to modify its data had transmigrated with him.

He could see the relevant information in his mind!

“Pokémon Modifier (Trial Version 1.0.2)
Functions:
○ Identification
○ Move Teaching
○ Shiny Modification
○ Ability Modification [Template missing, unavailable]
○ Base Stat Modification [Template missing, unavailable]
Bug Fixes: This product is currently in the trial stage. If you find any bugs during use, please send screenshots to the author’s email.”