Pokémon World Online ~ Birth of the Legendary Trainer [Book 1]

Prologue

"Professor Daniel is dead."

......Not what you want to hear when a blocked number calls your phone. Especially if the person on the other end sounds like Darth Vader.

"Pokémon World Online is no longer just a game. Players will be unable to logout until it's cleared, and dying in game will result in true death."

It sounded ridiculous, but the voice spoke with such certainty I didn't doubt it. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"To give you a choice. You can hide away in the real world, saving yourself from the death game. You can even try to stop us from launching. However, you'll undoubtedly fail. Nothing in reality can stop us anymore.

"Or, you can log in to Pokémon World Online. It'll be dangerous, with death constantly breathing down your neck. But it's your only chance of beating us. And to be honest, I'm interested to see what the legendary Zero is capable of.

"But the choice is yours. Will you hide like a coward? Or will you brave death once again to grasp the truth?" The line went dead.

I glanced at the clock. There was only half an hour until Pokémon World Online went live. Even if I went to the police, there's no way they could do anything before the game started.

That said, I never planned on running to them in the first place. Whoever these guys were, they at least think they've killed my father. Even if we weren't blood-related, I owe those guys a good punch to the face and a few broken limbs.

I made a quick call to a friend of mine, warning them not to play PWO. The least I could do was keep them from getting trapped too. Then I grabbed my jacket and dashed out the house. Thirty minutes isn't a lot of time, and I had work to do.

These bastards want a fight? I'll give it to them.

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Thirty minutes later, I opened my eyes to see a giant coliseum. Thousands of players appeared in the seats all around the stadium, looking confused and disoriented.

This place didn't exist before. Not a good sign.  

As if confirming my suspicions, a mass of black mud rose from the ground and became a huge robed figure. Everyone fell silent at the appearance of this death god. They didn't have to be beta testers like me to know something was wrong. 

"Greetings, players. Welcome to Pokemon World Online." The figure went into a long, dramatic speech, but I'll give you the short version: 

1)Pokémon World Online had become a death game. 

2)Trainers had HP bars now, and both Pokemon and Trainers alike would die when our HP hit zero. 

3)The only way to escape/clear the game was by defeating the "Pokémon Master".

4)Of course, we couldn't even find the Pokémon Master until every region's Champion had been defeated.

Which led to the unspoken #5—This was going to be a long game.