On Mt. Silver, a young man was slowly walking deeper into the mountain.

Beside him was a yellow and Blue beast-like Pokémon, whose back was radiating heat to keep its Trainer warm.

Unlike the forests and rocky terrain outside the mountain, the deepest part of Mt. Silver was a strangely bright, snow-white clearing.

It was a vast, snow-covered mountain, and heavy snow was falling.

As he continued deeper, the young man finally reached his destination.

At the peak of Mt. Silver, a man wearing a red baseball cap sat with his back to him, dressed in simple clothes, like an ascetic, on a high platform.

This was a secret that Gold had learned after becoming the Alliance Champion of the Johto region.

Legend had it that there was an existence far more powerful than the Alliance Champion who had been cultivating on Mt. Silver, and his deeds were often heard by Gold when he left the Johto region to travel to the Kanto region.

Defeating the eight Gyms, dismantling Team Rockets, defeating the Alliance Champion...

"Fight me!"

Gold raised a Poké Ball and shouted loudly, while the Typhlosion beside him stood upright, clenched its fists, and its back erupted with unprecedented flames.

Mysterious Man: "..."

He turned around, his expression cold, his eyes devoid of any color, remaining silent.

Ever since that guy Green exposed his whereabouts, he had been harassed by countless Trainer nobodies who wanted to defeat him and gain fame, but until now, no one had been able to force out his second Pokémon.

Perhaps it was the lonely snowy mountain, or perhaps his level was far higher than ordinary people, making it lonely at the top.

He had grown stronger, and also more reclusive.

But the arrival of this young man today finally changed his gaze.

"Come."

He spoke his first words in years, his voice somewhat mechanical, and as he spoke, he threw out a Poké Ball. A red light flashed, and a small Electric Mouse appeared on the snowy mountain.

"Pikachu, an Electric Terrain Pokémon, a common Pokémon," Gold's pokedex automatically reported.

"Then try this one of mine!"

As he spoke, Gold also threw out a Poké Ball. A massive figure appeared on the snowy mountain, and the surrounding snowflakes instantly froze, as a powerful oppressive aura enveloped the entire area.

Silver-white skin, a pair of broad, hand-like wings.

The Sea God, Lugia!

"..."

Seeing this, his eyes lit up, and the Pikachu in front of him sparked with electricity on its cheeks. A great battle was about to begin.

...

...

"Is Lugia popular now...?"

Neither of the two engaged in battle noticed a blurry figure floating above them, silently observing the fight. His face resembled that of the mysterious young man below.

Like a ghost, yet also like an existence beyond this world.

His name was Red.

Hours earlier, Red was still honing his will in the ice and snow.

Then he had an epiphany.

Red realized that he was just a fictional game character.

Indeed, he had memories of receiving his starter Pokemon from Professor Oak, memories of his first Gym challenge, his first battle with Green...

Battling Team Rockets, battling the Elite Four...

Even the memories of later traveling to Alola with Green and Blue, he still retained...

But he had no details of any of it.

It was only at this moment that he understood: this world was nothing more than a game world, everything was a plot already etched in code. Even if he was now an almost invincible existence, he was still just an ordinary game puppet.

When he learned this, Red transcended, his soul transforming out of his physical body.

But he was just a piece of code, so how could he be said to possess a soul?

And now, before his eyes, his physical body was acting as the final BOSS of this world, battling another game protagonist.

This was the battle of peaks!

Red really wanted to grab a bucket of popcorn.

The battle below continued, with Pikachu facing Lugia, a clash of Ember and electricity, resulting in a fifty-fifty situation.

Then Snorlax faced a strange Red Gyarados.

Venusaur faced Entei...

Lapras faced Suicune...

Charizard faced Ho-Oh...

Red couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle.

Do players nowadays all like to be God Beast Man?

How shallow!

Only by training ordinary Pokémon into the strongest Pokémon can one be a true Trainer!

At the end of the battle, Gold's ace, Typhlosion, appeared, its flames soaring to the sky like a volcanic eruption.

"Go, Mewtwo!" Red threw out his last Pokémon.

And watching Gold finally manage to win, the Red below couldn't help but laugh.

He let out a laugh of what seemed like relief, then turned his back, falling into an eerie silence.

At this moment, Mt. Silver flashed with a dazzling white light, blinding Gold's eyes.

And after the light, that Red disappeared.

This was the battle of peaks, and also the battle of curtain call. Red had completed all his missions in this world.

And the soul of Red, still floating in the sky, knew that if he hadn't had that epiphany just now, perhaps he would have disappeared with it?

"Where do I go now...?"

He was now a superfluous existence.

Red could feel a vortex seemingly in the sky, pulling at his soul, and the colors of everything before him were fading, leaving only black and white in the world before his eyes.

Soon, he was sucked into it, and his consciousness blurred...

...

...

When he woke up again, the bright world was a bit dazzling. Red looked around; it was a large forest.

It was very similar to the forests he had walked through before, yet it had something new.

It was vitality!

Red quickly realized that this was a real world.

"Transmigrated?"

Red looked at himself, still in soul form, and with a thought, he could float.

"Jijiji!!"

Before he could decide on his next move, a burst of frantic bird calls came from the jungle on one side, followed by a dense flock of Spearow bursting out of the trees, Flying in one direction.

"???"

Red was a bit bewildered, instinctively controlling his soul body to float in that direction.

By now, it had started to rain.

Arriving at a high cliff, Red saw a young man furiously cycling, and in the basket of his bike lay a common Electric Mouse, clearly on the verge of collapse.

"A new Trainer provoked a Spearow, then got chased by its entire lineage, and his Pokémon is about to fall into a near-death state?"

Red guessed blindly.

He wanted to help, but he was willing but powerless, only silently observing.

"Crack!"

At a bump in the muddy ground, the young man, also wearing a baseball cap, fell with his bike, and even the dying Pikachu was thrown several meters away, both landing on the muddy rocky ground.

At this moment, countless Spearow surrounded them, circling in the air, seemingly ready to attack en masse at any second.

"..."

Red's eyes widened, wishing he had a bucket of popcorn in his hand right now.

However, the situation changed again. The naive young man stood up, waving his arms in a T-shape, blocking in front of Pikachu.

"What do you think I am!"

"I am the future Pokémon Master!"

He roared loudly.

"Pikachu, hurry, get into the Poké Ball..."

He then said in a lowered voice.

Clearly, he wasn't as tough as he sounded; roaring was just an act of desperation.

However, the Spearow flock didn't understand human words. The next second, they swooped down with a roar!

Every year, countless new Trainers die tragically, which is not uncommon. Although Red felt quite sympathetic, he just watched silently.

"Pika..."

But the Pikachu lying on the ground seemed to unleash its true potential, trembling as it stood up, then ran.

"Chu..."

It climbed up Ash's body, and amidst the latter's shocked expression, it jumped from his shoulder, charging towards the hundreds of Spearow in the sky.

Its tiny figure seemed incredibly small in front of the large flock of Spearow.

"Chu!!!"

The next second, with a delicate cry, terrifying electricity burst from its cheeks, completely covering its tiny figure, and then golden electricity shot up into the sky.

"Boom!"

A thick bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the sky. Using this lightning strike, Pikachu's electricity instantly exploded, its terrifying power directly hitting all the Spearow with Destiny Bond. Its power did not diminish, even surging upwards, clearing a blank space in the black clouds in the sky.

Boom!

The lightning blinded Red's eyes. Before he could even make a sound, he felt a terrifying suction force coming from the source of the lightning, leaving him utterly helpless. His ghost-like body flew towards that direction.

"Don't just watch casually..."

This was his last thought.

...

...

"Coo-coo-coo..."

The lightning dissipated, and the Spearow were completely terrified, flapping their wings and Flying back into the forest in a frenzy.

The young man and the exhausted Pikachu lay in the mud, looking at each other.

At this moment, their hearts were connected.

The black clouds dissipated, and after the rain, a rainbow appeared in the sky.

Then came an exceptionally beautiful bird-like Pokémon, its whole body radiating colorful light. The sacred orbs falling from it seemed to have healing properties, restoring a good amount of HP to the two heavily injured individuals, allowing them to slowly stand up and gaze at the sky.

"What Pokémon is that?"

"Fearow, a common Flying-type Pokémon with a bad temper," a mechanical voice sounded from his pocket.

As a new pokedex, it often automatically broadcasts wild Pokémon data.

Logical.

Whether intentional or not, at that moment, the bird-like Pokémon suddenly shed a feather, which floated lightly down from high in the sky, finally landing directly in front of him.

The young man named Ash grabbed the rainbow-colored feather, his face filled with shock.

"Is this what wild Fearow are like outside? It's really great to be able to travel!" he exclaimed with joy.

Ash had seen Fearow in Pallet Town; they were ordinary Pokémon of only one color.

But this one seemed to be a Pokémon representing the will of heaven and earth, its whole body exuding an incredibly powerful aura, full of oppressive force.

"It's just a Ho-Oh that's an even match for my Charizard..."

At this moment, a rather deep voice sounded in Ash's mind. He startled, standing up, even scaring the Pikachu beside him.

"Am I possessed?"

Red: "You've hit the jackpot."