The scorching summer sun shone through the ninth-floor window, casting its light onto the bed.
Lying in bed, Rowan instinctively raised his arm to shield his face from the sunlight. However, it was of little use. Soon, he groggily sat up and fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table.
"Strange, where did my glasses go...?"
Muttering to himself while fumbling around, he suddenly jolted in surprise—the bedside table made of metal frames and PC boards wasn't from his old home but something from the rented apartment he lived in during school.
"I've been reborn?"
After a brief hesitation, Rowan rubbed his face. Once he confirmed that this was not a dream, a surge of joy rose in his heart.
As is well known, in certain situations, being a lone wolf is the norm—and Rowan was no exception at this moment.
With no close family to worry about, he didn't have to consider any complicated matters. While winning the lottery could be seen as a causality-breaking weapon, simply knowing the events of the next few years is enough. Even if he couldn't become extremely wealthy, it wouldn't be difficult to escape the "blessed" life of 996 and live a laid-back life. [TN: This is about Jack's opinion on 996: Being able to work 996 is a blessing, many people want to do it but don't have the opportunity]
He stepped into the small bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror. The corners of his lips couldn't help but lift into a smile.
His face was the kind that could easily blend into a crowd—three parts sharpness mixed with seven parts warmth.
The shadows cast by his brow ridge balanced out his slightly rounded eyes, while his jawline ended in a sudden, sharp angle, like a freshly polished jade stone.
Most importantly, this was exactly his younger self.
As Rowan fantasized about his plans for the future, his body suddenly shivered. The air conditioning in the room was set to a low temperature, and he was only wearing a pair of shorts because of summer. Standing there in a daze, he inevitably felt cold.
"I remember the AC remote should be around here."
He returned to his bed and rummaged for the air conditioner remote but couldn't find it.
However, during his search, he noticed something unusual—despite not wearing glasses, he could clearly see the tiny text on a package several meters away.
"A rebirth bonus? My nearsightedness is gone? Well, that's a nice perk..."
At the same time, he failed to notice that behind him, something resembling lines of data code was materializing on the floor—right on top of the remote control Rowan had been searching for.
"Thanks."
"Meow~"
When the remote was handed to him, Rowan instinctively said thanks, only to hear a cat's meow in response.
He jerked his head around and found himself staring into a pair of cunning, heterochromatic eyes.
"So this isn't a simple rebirth story, but a transmigration one instead... Where the hell have I ended up?!"
Rowan had initially thought he was simply given a second chance at life. But when he saw the cat standing on two legs, its body covered in shades of light and dark green, with a distinctive mask on its face, he realized—this world was far more interesting than he had imagined.
Meowscarada, the Magician Pokémon, is the Grass-type starter of the ninth-generation Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It was Rowan's favorite Pokémon and the partner he always chose across multiple games.
Compared to those cold lines of code, the living, breathing Meowscarada in front of him was... impossible to refuse.
Who could say no to a real-life Pokémon? Especially when it was their favorite one.
"Are you my Pokémon?"
"Meow?"
Hearing this, Meowscarada displayed an almost human-like expression of disbelief. From that simple meow, Rowan could even make out a full string of meaning.
[I told you not to sleep with the air conditioning on so high—now you've got a fever! You're completely delirious!!]
Meowscarada seemed even more familiar with this apartment than Rowan himself. With practiced ease, it pulled a thermometer out of the drawer and gestured for Rowan to check his temperature. Before Rowan could say anything, fever medicine, a damp towel, and other things appeared in front of him one after another.
Despite only having three fingers on each paw, Meowscarada's movements were incredibly dexterous. It even pulled out a jacket from the back of a chair and draped it over Rowan's shoulders.
"I'm not running a fever, you don't have to do this. I'm just a little confused."
"Meow!"
"Alright, alright, I get it. I'll check it, okay?"
Under Meowscarada's persistent insistence, Rowan finally used the thermometer to prove that he was fine. When the screen displayed 36.7°C, Meowscarada finally sighed in relief.
It was then that Rowan started to take in the changes in his apartment. For the most part, it was the same rented place he remembered, but now, it had a lot more Pokémon-themed decorations.
A framed photo by the bedside caught his attention. In his memory, that photo should have been of him alone, but now, it had changed—it was a picture of him and Meowscarada together.
In one corner of the photo, five characters were written: Rowan & Nekomi.
The name "Nekomi" gave Rowan an even clearer understanding of Meowscarada's identity. Though he had played multiple versions of the Pokémon games before coming to this world, in each game, his Meowscarada always had a different name.
The name "Nekomi" belonged to his partner in the latest VRMMORPG.
VRMMORPG refers to Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games—titles like Sword Art Online and Overlord featured games of this type.
After all, the era Rowan came from had witnessed a technological explosion, and as a classic IP, Pokémon naturally didn't miss out on its own updates.
That framed photo was actually a screenshot from when he cleared the game. The character he had customized to resemble himself now appeared even more vivid in the picture.
"Nekomi, have you seen my phone?!"
Rowan glanced around, trying to see if anything besides Nekomi had come together with him. But no matter where he looked, he found nothing.
This was well within Rowan's expectations. That account originally had only Meowscarada as its sole Pokémon, so naturally, all resources had been poured into it—max level, 6 perfect Individual Values, already at the pinnacle of what was legally achievable. And their Friendship? Long since broken the limits.
To Rowan, the hundreds of hours spent in the game were just a virtual experience. But for Nekomi, they were very real memories.
From Nekomi's perspective, Rowan was just having another one of his "episodes." Without overthinking it, it simply began helping him search for his phone.
Rowan only wanted to use the internet to learn more about this world's setting.
Now that the script had changed, his previous plans had to be scrapped. He decided to first understand how much this world differed from his original knowledge.
"Meow~"
The phone "flew" into Rowan's hand—or more accurately, it was delivered to him along with Meowscarada's flower bud.
The leaf-like fur around Meowscarada's neck grew in a way that resembled a cape. The inner side of this fur reflected light, concealing a special stem. For Meowscarada, it is like a third hand and is frequently used by this species in battle.
The phone was still the same phone, but the app icons on the interface had changed quite a bit.
Looking at an app with a blue and white color scheme, featuring a dodo bird icon and the character "du" on it, Rowan found it somewhat familiar. Upon tapping it open, he saw the familiar trending list.
[Today's Dodo Headlines: Local police recently cracked down on an illegal Pokémon abuse case.]
The suspect, Chen, placed a Toxic Orb on a Dratini he had purchased from the black market, forcing it to repeatedly shed its skin for profit using Shed Skin ability.
This act severely harmed the Pokémon both physically and mentally. Additionally, the toxic shedded skin, used to make leather shoes, posed a serious health risk to humans.
The suspect, Chen, has been arrested, and the Dratini has been sent to the Johto Region for proper care. Police are currently following leads to track down poaching activities. Anyone with information is urged to contact Officer Jenny in their area...
[The new Pokémon World Championship is in preparation...]
[A Trainer from the Hoenn region has officially announced their relationship with Gardevoir...]
The news on the homepage made Rowan's lips twitch—whether it was "Baidu" being renamed "Dodo" or the actual content of the news. Still, from the news itself, he could at least piece together some general details.
This world shared some similarities with the one he remembered, but it was definitely not the same as before. For instance, the geographical distribution included multiple regions such as Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Galar. As for Rowan's current location, it should be called "Illumina."
In one corner of the interface, he noticed a peculiar app. It was a game icon with "Nekomi" save data. However, the icon was currently grayed out, stuck in a loading state, neither accessible nor deletable. Its exact function remained unknown.
"If only the in-game functions still worked..."
According to that game's mechanics, every player had their own base, where various facilities could significantly enhance Pokémon training, making their growth far more efficient.
Staring at the gray icon, Rowan chose to ignore it for now and switched back to the Dodo app to continue searching for information.
However, before he could search for more information, a phone call interrupted his thoughts.
As Rowan answered, an anxious voice erupted from the speaker.
"Rowan, where the hell are you?! It's the graduation makeup exam! Do you even want your diploma and degree?!"
"You've already retaken 'Pokémon Identification Theory' twice! Fail this one, and you're definitely getting held back!"
[TN: This is the new novel of Author of Arceus Pirate Journey. MC has been born in a chinese fan-made Pokemon region Donghuang, but I will be using Illumina as the region name. I have given MC and the region a Westernized name, but for other Chinese characters, I will be using Chinese names only.]