[A world in which they need each other] Prologue
A/N: This is the prologue to my new Alpharad x pChal Pokémon Gen 9 isekai fic. It's my first fic in eight years, and my first RPF in ten, so please go a bit easy, but I always enjoy constructive criticism.
age rating as of right now: T (more info in tags)
Jan was looking along the rainy Tokyo street. Despite night had fallen over an hour ago, it felt unnaturally bright. Neon lights and the shop signs illuminated the people walking by and left reflections on the wet sidewalks and awnings. While Jaiden had abandoned them after leaving the Shibuya Pokémon Lab to escape the rain, Jacob had heard of some “secret”, “only-insiders-know-about-this” spot for vintage and rare Pokémon artifacts. If Jan was honest, he just wanted to head back to the hotel and get some rest. It had been a long day and exciting day on his feet, and the exhaustion was catching up to him.
Then there was also last night. Jacob, him and the gang had been out drinking very late, leaving him with little sleep and a hangover that had gotten better from spending time outside, but was still not helping his mood. There was also the small issue of what happened last night when they were drinking. After maybe not too many, but still plenty of drinks, Jacob and he had quite unabashedly made out in front of their friends and the other patrons of the bar they were at. It wasn’t that Jan cared that they kissed – he had kissed guys before, and being drunk and kissing a friend wasn’t usually something he worried about. When he woke up this morning though, the moment was still stuck in his head and made him feel confused, like there was a knot in his stomach. It was probably just a case of having to come to terms with whatever he was feeling, and he had successfully suppressed it most of the day, but being alone with Jacob now didn’t help with that.
“Jan, it’s over here!” Jacob called out as they approached, carrying a transparent plastic umbrella with the Gen 1 starters on it, their hair gleaming in the light of the neon signs that shone through it. “Coming.” Jan started to trudge along behind Jacob, when they stopped for a moment and moved the umbrella towards him, as to offer him to join him under it. A small smile flashed across Jan's lips, and he moved closer to Jacob, stepping into the small patch of dryness, now huddled against their coat. “Thanks.” The two of them continued towards the small store, nestled around the corner of a small alleyway, lit mostly by the shining lights of the main street and some dim, wall-mounted streetlights.
The small storefront looked like nothing special. A slightly yellowing backlit Japanese sign was mounted above large glass windows, adorned from the inside with slightly scuffed and out-of-date Pokémon posters and an otherwise seemingly arbitrary array collection of dusty figures, plushies, sealed trading cards, game boxes and countless mismatching licensed trinkets. Stepping into the small store, Jan and Jacob could see the theme of overstuffed clutter and dim lighting continuing on the inside. It was made up of two narrow aisles squeezed between a center row of shelves and the packed walls, connecting at the back. Some of the many objects haphazardly balanced on shelves, attached to the walls, or, in the case of some big statues in the back of the store, standing on the ground. Some items seemed like they could be valuable to a collector or a fan of some specific niche of the fandom. Nothing seeming as special or rare as the store’s reputation would have made them hope for jumped out at them. Jan felt a bit underwhelmed, and judging by the look on Jacob’s face, the feeling was mutual.
“See anything?” Jan asked, more out of politeness, though his tone betrayed his disappointment at the now seemingly needless detour. “Nope.” Jacob responded despondently. They wriggled through the tight space from one aisle to the other, at least wanting to give the shop every chance to salvage what so far looked like a disappointment. A few of the shelves hidden in the back corner came into view, but looked like mostly dilapidated consoles, handhelds and old games. Jan walked past, and, seeing that the remaining selves didn’t look much more promising, slowly began making his way towards the door.
“Wait a moment.” Jan heard Jacob say. When he turned around, he saw them wrangling forth what looked like a box for a Switch game from behind some knick-knacks. Jan walked back, careful not to knock anything from the shelves, and looked at the box Jacob had in their hands. The box art resembled the Pokémon Scarlet & Violet box art, but featured both Miraidon and Koraidon – and two trainers, looking like your default boy and girl video game character. The title read Pokémon Scarlet, Violet – and YOU! Jan and Jacob both furrowed their eyebrows in confusion – this was not a Gen 9 game either of them had seen before, or, for that matter, a game they had seen before at all. Jacob flipped the box around, but the text was completely in Japanese, and too much for both of their limited tourist knowledge of the language. Turning it back around, it seemed like the title began to glimmer all of a sudden, for a second, it seemed like they could look into a world behind the legendary Pokémon and their trainers.
“Ah, a very special thing you have there.” Jan and Jacob jumped. The cashier, an elderly Japanese man, had quietly walked up to them from the cash register next to the door and was now looking over his shoulder at the box in Jacob's hand. “It’s a factory leak. Rumor is it's the only one.” Jan looked at Jacob skeptically, who looked back at him a bit confused from what they saw moments ago. After a second, Jacob shrugged.
“Hey, if we play this on stream together, it'll be good content, no matter if it's a flop or the game to save Gen 9. Or just a creepy pasta.” They said, clearly wanting to make the best of a bad situation.
“How would we play it together? One of us playing it while the other one is watching through Discord would hardly be fun, and I’m not sure that this is link compatible with the normal games.”
“I mean, we're both here. I could shoot Connor a message – he or someone he knows here is bound to have a streaming setup we could use for a few hours to try it out in person together.” Jacob said, now clearly sounding more excited.
Jan realized he wasn't getting out of this. “Okay, fine. But only if we nuzlocke it, Gen 9 is enough of a drudge as it is.”
“Of course, Mr. Nuzlocke King.”
They walked towards the cash register and stopped. Jacob searched the box for a price tag, not finding one. He looked up at the man behind the cash register, who, before they could ask anything, said, “Don't worry about payment – it found you for a reason, it is not my business to interfere.” Jacob did not know what exactly to make of this, so he nodded, confused, and thanked the man before quickly leaving the store. Jan followed him, still looking skeptical, but now at the shop owner. The guy looked like he, without a shadow of malice, sincerely believed in what he just said.
It had stopped raining, and the two started walking towards the nearest metro station.
“That was… weird.” Jacob said, still sounding unsure of what had just transpired.
“Are you still up for playing it?” Jacob asked in a tone somewhere between convincing, hopeful, and forlorn.
“You saw what I saw, right? How the box art changed all of a sudden?” Jan asked matter-of-factly.
“I'm sure that was just a trick of the light.”
“Sure.” Jan said, unconvinced. He could tell Jacob was excited to play this weird game. In the end, what really could go wrong. It was a Switch game. He didn’t believe in ghost stories, and the worst thing that could happen would probably be it being even more of a buggy mess than the normal Scarlet & Violet were on release. Doing something he was used to doing together with Jacob, like fooling around in some Pokémon game, might just get his mind off last night.
Jacob looked at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t know what to say. Jan was someone who’d speak his mind if he would rather not do something, but still, he seemed uneasy. Maybe it was just the disappointment of not finding something more interesting at the store. Perhaps he was just tired. It had been a long day on their feet after all.
They said their goodbyes at the metro stop, having to take trains in different directions. Before Jacob turned away to get his train, he flashed Jan a brief, apologetic smile. Jan just gave a slight nod before putting in his earbuds and entering the waiting train.
When Jan arrived at his hotel room, he tossed aside his jacket, took off his shoes, and quickly got ready for bed. He drew the curtains, and checked his phone one more time before turning off the lights. Jacob had messaged him.
Jacob: Connor is off filming a Trash Taste special tomorrow, he said we can use his stream setup if we get there in the morning before he leaves.
Jan: When do we have to be there?
Jacob: Here’s the address: [Connor’s Address]
He put his phone on the nightstand, turned off the lights, tucked into his blanket, and laid his weary head to rest. For a few seconds, he watched the lights from outside cast thin, long bands onto the wall and headboard above him. For a second, he thought about getting back up and closing them. He decided against it.
When he closed his eyes, he saw the lights shift to a bright white void in front of his mind’s eye. He could make out the shimmering outlines of an imposing yet familiar seeming creature. He seemed to be floating in front of it.
Through his mind, a deep voice boomed, “Follow my call, Jan. Come to me.”
At that moment, he felt a hand grasp his arm. He jerked his head to see whose hand it was, and saw the shimmering of another familiar, this time human, figure. Before he could make out who it was, he felt his stomach drop out and himself free-falling into darkness.
8:57 AM. Jan arrived at Connor’s apartment building in a residential area of Tokyo. He hadn’t slept well, and was still a bit drowsy, despite the half-drunk konbini coffee. Checking the front door of the apartment complex, looking for a doorbell labeled Colquhoun, he quickly realized that he would have to enter an apartment number to use the intercom. He wrote Jacob a message, asking him if he had already arrived. He took a long swig, emptying the rest of the disposable cup and stuffed it in his jacket pocket – as with the rest of Tokyo, there was no trash can in sight.
Waiting, he checked his socials. Jacob had already hinted they might be streaming together on Twitter last night, but he had only announced it this morning, so, for most of his audience, it was going to be a surprise stream. Not to mention that for his European viewers, it was going to be a surprise stream in the middle of the night. Nonetheless, his post and made some good impressions. In the time collaborating with Jacob, he had definitely found out that they were good clickbait for any announcement or thumbnail.
“Hey Jan!” he heard an out-of-breath voice. When he raised his head, he saw Jacob quickly walking towards him. “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting for long.”
“Don’t worry, I just arrived” Jan replied.
Jacob beelined towards the intercom.
“Connor sent me his apartment number, give me a moment.” they said, pressing buttons on the keypad.
“Colquhoun?” a voice came through the tinny speaker.
“Hey Connor, it’s us, Jan and Jacob!” Jacob said, louder than was probably necessary for the intercom to pick up his voice.
“Great, I’m on the second storey.”
The door buzzed, and Jacob pushed it open, holding it open for Jan before they walked through it themself. They were greeted at the apartment door by a smiling Connor, who beckoned them to come in.
“Just put your shoes here –” Connor pointed at a shoebox next to the door “– and you can hang your jackets here” he said, waving towards the hooks on the wall, before walking ahead into the apartment.
“Can I offer you two something to drink?” Connor asked.
“Just a water.” Jan replied.
“Me too, please.” Jacob responded in kind. “Have you two ever met before?” They asked.
“Not yet,” Connor replied, filling up two glasses, “but I’ve watched some of your videos, Jan, when I was practising and memorising strats for a Nuzlocke I did,” he finished, handing Jan and Jacob their glasses.
“Thanks.” Jan said, a bit surprised, but confident.
He showed them his streaming setup, helped plug in the Switch, and explained the inputs and OBS setup.
“That should be everything, if you need anything else, just message me. I might just take a while to answer between shoots. If you’re thirsty, help yourselves to some coffee or tea, there are also a few litres of pop around here.” Connor told them as he put on his jacket and picked up his backpack. “Have fun, guys!” he said as he walked out the door, before he could hear Jacob and Jan thank him.
They both spent some more time setting up the multistream to both their channels and getting the Switch ready. The Switch menu showed a game icon very similar to the box art, just that the trainers were replaced by two older people, a brunet and a bearded blond, still in the same pose, holding Pokéballs and all. Neither of them noticed, though, as they were busy getting ready.
“Ready?” Jacob asked, looking at Jan.
“Then let’s go.” Jacob said, pressing the Start Streaming button.
After greeting chat and waiting for some viewers to come in, Jacob took the lead.
“So, as you all have probably seen by now, Jan and I are doing a stream together from Tokyo, special thanks to Connor for allowing us to use his setup.”
“Yup, and it’s definitely the most… JoJo streaming environment I’ve ever been in.” Jan added, deadpanning.
“So, anyway, we’re playing a – well, let’s say, a special game today –” Jacob announced, holding the box into the camera.
“– not to mention a game you picked up in a mysterious storefront in an alleyway.” Jan joked.
“I remember you being there too,” Jacob teased and continued, “so, from what we were told, this is some weird pre-release fusion of Scarlet & Violet.”
“Let’s hope pre-release isn’t code for ‘even more of a buggy mess than the actual game releases’” Jan quipped.
“And if they are, we have you here as our resident Pokémon know-it-all to get us through it.” Jacob said, lightheartedly, and switched scenes to the Switch screen capture, with chat and the face cam to the side and corner.
A TTS message interrupted them. “pChalpha cheered x100: ‘Finally more Jan and Jacob collabs? Always up for some more of the favorite enemies to lovers arc! :pokemoPog:’”
“I guess so.” Jan replied, swallowing a bit and purposely ignoring the TTS.
Jacob selected the game icon, pressed A, and suddenly, everything went white. Both of them felt like they were ripped away through the back of their seats, away from earth, into an endless white void. Within seconds, both of them had passed out.
All the viewers saw was what looked like a flash bang going off in front of the face cam, two suddenly empty chairs, and the Switch not loading the game. Instead, the screen capture showed the console menu with an error box with Japanese text.
自分自身と互いを見つけるために、彼らは冒険の世界に旅立った。驚異の世界。お互いがお互いを必要としているのと同じくらい、二人を必要としている世界。
A/N: Thank you for reading! As I said, I'm happy for any constructive critisism. This chapter, as well as the next, will go up on AO3 as soon as I get an invite there for my new account!
