Volume One: The Beginning in Hoenn

Chapter 1: Aoguu House

Hoenn region, northeast, Autumn Leaf Forest.

The gloomy and dense sea of trees forms a natural giant maze, separating the central Mt. Chimney from the outer Autumn Leaf Town by a great distance.

With the rise of the trainer profession, although the Pokémon League has increasingly focused on developing the wilds to create a safe travel environment for trainers, there are still many areas that remain "undeveloped" wastelands, and Autumn Leaf Forest is one of them.

These places are rich in natural resources, but along with that come dangerous and unknown terrains and environments, as well as aggressive Pokémon, all of which make people hesitate to enter.

Autumn Leaf Town, outside the forest, is an agricultural town with about a dozen households. Because it is close to Mt. Chimney, whenever the breeze blows, volcanic ash from the mountain drifts here, providing rich nutrients for the local plants.

Inside Aoguu House.

Stephen Clark walked out of the yard, wrinkling his nose slightly, showing a helpless expression.

Next to him, a butterfly with water-blue compound eyes kept flapping its beautiful wings. Under its control, a sea of silk shimmering with golden electric currents resounded like a chorus of a thousand birds, dazzlingly beautiful.

The light from the sea of silk shone on Stephen Clark's face, making his youthful features under his slightly golden-brown short hair look especially handsome.

This was a Beautifly practicing the move "Electroweb."

The boy's name was Stephen Clark, a member of the Aoguu House orphanage. In this small town with few people, Aoguu House was a rather unique building. Here, a group of children often gathered to play and laugh together.

Looking at the Beautifly fluttering around him, Stephen Clark sighed, "It's been almost a year, hasn't it?"

"Gu~" Beautifly nodded in response.

A year ago, to escape a flock of Taillow, the Beautifly—then still a Wurmple—crawled out from its grassy and forest home. After wandering, the little guy ended up at Aoguu House.

Then, this timid Wurmple was caught by the lively children and became the object of their teasing. Fortunately, Stephen Clark noticed in time, stopped the children, and rescued the Wurmple.

The children weren't bad by nature. Not long after, the Wurmple received a sincere apology and soon became friends with them, getting along very well. In the end, even Stephen Clark hadn't expected that this little wanderer would stay here for good, naturally joining the Aoguu House family and becoming one of them.

For the past year, Stephen Clark had been responsible for taking care of the Wurmple.

Because he had spent too much time training with Beautifly, it was already noon. Looking at the dusty, unswept floor, Stephen Clark sighed.

"Beautifly, come help out!" Patting the dust off his clothes, Stephen Clark put his backpack aside, picked up the broom in the corner, and planned to clean up the fallen leaves first.

But just then, a crisp shout suddenly came to Stephen Clark's ears. He instinctively looked up and saw a little girl happily running over.

"Little Linai, huh." Seeing the girl, Stephen Clark smiled. Linda Baker was also an orphan at Aoguu House, but they had known each other before entering Aoguu House.

Thinking of the innocent Little Linda who used to cling to him, and his own awkward actions at the beginning, Stephen Clark was suddenly stunned, feeling a sense of time travel.

Time flies; four years had passed.

Stephen Clark was originally from Cerulean City. Four years ago, he lost his family and was adopted by this orphanage.

Four years, tedious and dull, but fortunately, Stephen Clark gradually adapted to this life and slowly pulled himself together in this familiar yet strange world.

But no one knew that four years ago, Stephen Clark had already been "swapped." The current Stephen Clark came from another blue world—Earth!

"Stephen Clark ge... what are you daydreaming about!" Little Linda walked up, staring at Stephen Clark in confusion, her bright eyes blinking.

Little Linda spoke, snapping Stephen Clark out of his daze. He felt a bit lost and sad inside. "It's nothing. Are you hungry? I'll go prepare lunch, okay?"

Seeing Stephen Clark smile, Linda Baker felt delighted. She looked at the ground around them and said apologetically, "Sorry to trouble you, Stephen Clark ge. This morning, Kotora and I went exploring by the cave... so we didn't help you clean up." After speaking, Linda Baker put her hands together and smiled apologetically. "So, Stephen Clark ge, can you and Beautifly handle it? Let me help you."

Just as Linda Baker was about to help, Stephen Clark shook his head and stopped her: "No need, just leave it to Beautifly. It can handle it."

"Then... then let me help you prepare lunch?" Linda Baker wanted to do something for Stephen Clark.