Pokémon's Bizarre Adventure! (JJBA-inspired Pokémon Quest)

This update brought to you by Yakuza 0 and Atelier Ryza, an unusual combination of inspirations that gave me the energy to start this adventure off.

I struggled a lot with this chapter since establishing the first character interactions feels 'irreversible' and I kept second-guessing it, but at this point I think it's healthiest to just put the chapter out there and move on.

Thanks for the bits of attention this thread has kept getting from newcomers even during these three months of inactivity! Every time I got a notification it brought me back to thinking about this Quest.

Winning vote:
[X] Red
- Specialty: Cognizance
- Goal: To complete the Kanto Pokédex.
- Patient, empathetic, stubborn.
- Curiosity.

---

Stepping off of his street and onto one of the larger roads, Red takes in a deep breath of one of Kanto's little wonders - fresh air.

Many assume that Pallet Town's air is rich with salt from the shore, perhaps tainted by the industrial sector marked by factories adjourning the docks. Despite that, above all else, the scent of fresh leaves and greenery travel downwind, cleansing what might otherwise be overpowering stenches.

No other town in Kanto can boast quite the same. Cerulean City has saltier winds, despite technically being further inland. Cinnabar's air carries ash. Lavender Town's is stale. Even Viridian City has to contend with its air being given a unique texture by an overabundance of honey and cotton.

There's a reason people often look to retire here. Pallet Town's residents fought tirelessly to keep it picturesque even as it grew, and the results of those efforts can clearly be seen today.

Brick walkways pave the majority of the way towards Red's ultimate destination, flanked by grass and flowerbeds. Colorful rooftops draw the eye at every turn, distinct and familiar enough for him to use to navigate with ease.

Even as Red enters the busier areas of town, the streets remain designed with walkability in mind. Only once in his trek does Red stop to cross one of the few roads for vehicles cutting through the town - a long strip of asphalt connecting the docks along the southern shore to the north side of town.

While the industrial sector dominates the south and agriculture wrestles with residences in the west, Professor Oak's laboratory sits atop a hill in the north-east. The windmill in the back spins lazily, providing something of a beacon to walk towards as Red dodges pedestrians.

Finally, after over half an hour, Red clears the path leading up the lower half of the hill, stopping at a bench to rest his legs. Red's home is pretty much on the opposite side of town, so he has the longest commute out of the three kids visiting the lab today.

Turning back to look over his hometown, he sees what most folks see in the brochures - a tapestry of whimsically decorated rooftops, storefronts, streets, and other spaces. The abundance and vibrancy of colors reflect well on the town's name - a veritable palette of places and experiences waiting to be explored.

Ever the responsible young man, Red had woken up on time and left the house early, giving him a comfortable amount of time to take a breather.

His current seat gives him a good view of two people who clearly hadn't left early enough.

Amidst the scattered townsfolk down below who are too far to distinguish, two colorful specks in the distance approach the hill upon which Professor Oak's Lab sits. Red sees them join up at an intersection and take the same turn towards the sloping hillside path, walking fast. After a minute of observation, it becomes obvious which is which.

Blue, who can't help but make everything a competition, speeds up to try to leave his peer in the dust.

Leaf, who knows no shame or fear, starts hopping fences to cut ahead of him.

Red, who would never hear the end of it if they caught up to him, gets up from the bench and makes sure he arrives at the lab first.

---

"Hah... hah... you snooze, you... hah... lose... loser..."

"Shouldn't have hit... hah... snooze, then... loser..."

Gasping for breath, two of Pallet Town's youths try their best not to throw up on the sign outside Professor Oak's Lab.

Red pushes open the door for them, drawing two looks of betrayal as they realize their race had only been for second place. Despite that, exhaustion and the allure of air-conditioning is enough to get them to enter the building's front lobby without comment.

Technically, they've already been on lab territory for a while, with Oak's influence and partnerships granting him effective ownership of most of the land that's actually on the hill. However, Professor Oak doesn't abuse the full permissions granted to him by Pallet Town. Since he doesn't need much space for his current work, for most of the year the majority of 'his' property is a public park that people are slightly more careful not to make a mess in.

Everyone knows his real home is the cluster of buildings adorning the hilltop. Office space, lab equipment, the howling electrical building, the greenhouse...

When they were younger, this complex seemed to them like a magical, colorful place, where Professor Oak got to have fun with Pokémon all day.

Honestly, Red feels like that isn't completely inaccurate. He remembers the field trips, how the old man derived such joy just from seeing a Pokémon do something new. When they all got to watch Daisy come in for limit testing, having her Clefairy perform the same move over and over, Professor Oak had been the most persistently enraptured of them all. Even Blue had gotten bored first.

"Oi, Red, you weren't waiting long, right? You just got here, right?"

Speaking of repeating the same move...

Having caught his breath, Blue is quick to direct his energy towards ribbing Red. Literally jabbing at his ribs with his elbow, as if feeling a pathological need to cut in front of him in line.

Red jerks his head up at the clock on the wall of the reception area, which reads two minutes past the time they were supposed to be here. He moves his shoulder to shift his backpack so it covers his left flank, shielding it from further ribbing.

"Dude, no matter how late we are, Gramps is always later. It's not a big deal," says Blue, as if he hadn't just sprinted uphill to get here.

"Yeah, Red." The other pain in his neck rests her elbow on Red's right shoulder, lending her weight to the shared effort to jostle him around. "What're the odds he'll actually call us in-"

"The Professor will see you now." Professor Oak's aide calls out to them in that gently authoritative tone of a responsible adult.

Unbidden, the three youths fall into line as he prepares to lead them inside. He looks towards the front door and pauses.

"Would you mind helping to bring in the boxes from the entrance?" asks the Professor's aide. There's no smile on his face, just a silent expectation that the kids will listen.

Blue lifts one with his foot and smirks. "Do we get paid?"

"No-"

Blue lets the box drop.

"But you'll save yourself the walk to pick up what we need for you."

Begrudgingly, Blue leans over to pick the box up properly with both hands, building up a stack to haul all at once.

Meanwhile, Leaf inspects the strewn boxes curiously, casually sneaking peeks at their contents and labels. "Got a lot of packages coming in today?"

"Oh, they've piled up over the week. If I recall, we still haven't even received everything we're waiting for, so I'd like to clear up some room at the entrance."

"Hmm." Leaf smiles, cherry-picking the lightest and largest boxes to form a curated stack that looks the most helpful for the least effort. "Where from? Just Pewter?"

"For the most part, but we're also waiting for some items to get shipped..."

At this point, Red stops paying attention, focused on building a stack of his own, filled with larger boxes. Blue notices, and grabs one more box to keep his stack the largest. Right as Blue steadies his pile and prepares to walk off, Red pauses to pick up another box. Blue follows suit, not one to be outdone. The two boys lock eyes.

Red knows he shouldn't rise to the bait. He should just be the first to show up and make a good impression. This is a waste of time.

But if there's one thing he hates more than wasting time, it's letting Blue win.

---

"Good, you're all here." Professor Oak offers a bleary-eyed smile, still coming to terms with the emptiness of the coffee mug in his hand. "Hold on one minute while I reply to this email..."

In the end, Red and Blue only make it to Oak after both of them convince themselves their own pile looks bigger. The burdens make their journey arduous, especially since Leaf has no compunctions 'accidentally' bumping into them on her way past.

Waiting in one of the more properly-tiled laboratory rooms is a curious set-up. Unlike the last time Red was here there's a lot more empty space, the room basically cleared to make way for the table supporting three spherical red-white-black devices. Any kid worth their crayons could tell you those were Pokéb-

As if to taunt them, Professor Oak's aide pulls down a white projector screen from the ceiling, obscuring the objects of their desire.

"Ugh." Blue is the most honest about his displeasure, but pulls up a rolling chair and braces for the inevitable presentation. Leaf seats herself atop a table and gleefully kicks Blue's chair to roll across the floor.

Red just sits down and takes out a notepad, ignoring the bickering behind him. It stops once the Professor coughs, snapping their attention towards the slide he's tapping on.

"Alright then! Red, Leaf, Blue." Professor Oak nods to each of the kids in turn, as if mentally taking attendance. "Question time. What do I do for a living?"

There's a moment of silence as everyone tries to figure out what answer he's looking for.

Red raises his hand.

"Work for the Pokémon Association?" Leaf wonders. "You're on their website a lot..."

Red keeps his hand raised.

"Don't you help with the Pokémon League?" grouses Blue, unamused by the roundabout direction of this conversation. "Isn't there a lot of money there now?"

"While I do get a lot of calls from the Association, my involvement doesn't pay for the lab," the Professor notes, bemused. "Nor am I involved with League affairs. I would think the answer is obvious: I study Pokémon!"

Red lowers his hand, unnoticed.

"Most people accept them as part of life, as a part of our world. Yet as soon as you start asking even the most basic questions about what Pokémon are, how they live, or why they exist in the way they do... the sheer depth of the unknowns braved by researchers who study them is bottomless. And that's not even getting into history, or mythology! Go back even ten years..."

Blue stifles a yawn.

"Ahem. Regardless." Professor Oak switches tracks. "I've been in this field for decades now. Published papers. Worked with government, researchers, companies. Stamped my name on a few patents, even!"

"Patents for what?" asks Leaf, curious about what Blue's grandfather actually helped make.

"Ah... it's not my proudest work," the Professor admits. "The earliest prototypes for Technical Machines listed me as a contributor, but I hardly understood the hardware. It was too hard! Hahaha!"

Nobody laughs.

Professor Oak carries on with admirable grace. "My work was largely theoretical. No matter how well-received it was by the scientific community, it always took real experts to branch off of my work and actually invent something useful. But they do, so I sometimes get paid! That is, I get called in as a consultant to help understand why things go wrong-"

"That's nice." Leaf interrupts gently.

"-and, erm, that's besides the point." Professor Oak coughs. "What I mean to get at is that I work with a lot of people in different places, even now. Why, I just came back from visiting the folks at Pewter University!"

Obligingly, Red claps. Partly because he's genuinely impressed - and a little interested in Pewter - but mostly to assist in the unspoken effort to keep the Professor from rambling.

The Professor points at the trio. "And after all I've accomplished, now I've brought in three children from a small town with no experience to sign some forms. Why?"

Blue smirks. "Because we're better than th- ow!"

From across the room, Professor Oak lowers his hand. "Perhaps someone who was actually paying attention last week?"

Leaf shrugs. While there'd been a fuss when she was here last, she hadn't really been listening to the details.

For his part, Red just points past the projector screen, where he can still see the table from earlier.

"Ah, yes. The starter compatibility test, which nobody untrained is supposed to physically be able to pass." The Professor chuckles. "Yet all of you have, somehow. Do you three have any idea how big of a deal this is?"

Naturally, he is met with blank stares.

Oak sighs. "Simply put, not every potential Pokémon Trainer is compatible with every potential Pokémon partner. Most people are only able to connect with a Pokémon from a very limited list specific to the individual."

The next slide shows a photo of a grizzled, middle-aged blonde man, surrounded by spherical red-white creatures trying their best to stay in formation. Remarkably, the rampant electrical power surging through the room seems to bear the man no discomfort. His crouched form radiates power, demanding respect.

"Gym Leaders obtain their positions by leveraging Pokémon which best match their affinities. The rest of us, however?"

The next slide contains a photograph of a calm Pokémon Center lobby, filled with much more ordinary-looking folks. A boy carrying a tiny Weedle, a woman cradling a queasy Meowth, and numerous other people who look more like pet-owners than challengers in combat.

"Let's start with the battle enthusiasts. Typical upstart Trainers luck out on establishing a connection with a Pokémon local to their area. My aide, who you've met, failed to ever bond with any Rattatas, but succeeded on the first try with a Pidgey. If you don't have any plans to travel, you'd better hope you get that lucky."

At his mention, the aide waves from behind his laptop.

"For most people, of course, this is irrelevant. You don't require a deep spiritual connection with a creature to keep one as a pet, or to herd them at a ranch. If it was that difficult, society would have collapsed eons ago! But forming that connection is the bare minimum necessary to draw out a Pokémon's full power for the purposes of battle."

Blue purses his lips. "Isn't a Pokéball all you need? You never see a Trainer walking around without one."

"Ah, funny that you mention that! Pokéballs are an innovative technology that shortcut a lot of the process! Thanks to them, you won't need years of meditation and concentrated effort to open up your 'soul' and establish these connections. I imagine without Pokéballs, Saffron City would be the center of League activity."

Leaf almost leaps off her perch in excitement. "Because they're psychic?"

"Er, yes." Professor Oak coughs, fully aware that her head is now filled with thoughts of Detective Mime. "To put it simply, they don't all rely on technology. At the cost of being impractical or outright impossible for most people."

"Are any of us getting a psychic Pokémon?"

"No. You should know exactly what those three Pokémon in the back are, the same as last week - did you even read the form we made you sign?"

Instead of acknowledging him, Leaf raises her hand, staring holes through the projector screen towards where she knows three Pokéballs wait. "Which one do I get?"

"You're supposed to wait until I call your name after you raise your hand," chides Professor Oak. "Honestly, I was getting to that! I promised to help you find your first partners, but we need some idea of your compatibilities to proceed. That's why we use the Triangle Method: a trinity of Grass, Water, and Fire, each weak to or resistant to one another. In our case, we use Pokémon that are typically much more difficult to connect with. Only experienced Trainers with an agreeable affinity might manage it. Therefore, for a novice who's never had a Pokémon before-"

"Nobody matches with them first try," interrupts Blue, his grin growing wider. "But we did, obviously. We get it Gramps, it's not that complicated. Skip to the fun part already. Which one do I get? Do I get to pick?"

"Hoh." Professor Oak swipes his hand dismissively, prompting his aide to skip a few slides until three colorful creatures decorate the screen. "Theoretically, you could pick any of the three Pokémon we conducted your tests with. After all, there's no need to procure a more fitting starter when all signs indicate to these being perfect choices for you! Few folks have such an innate affinity with these three. Of all the rookie trainers in town, you kids are the only ones I could entrust these three with."

For the first time in years, Blue could hug his grandfather. The excitement is infectious. Leaf and Red have both stood up, the same expectation and desire burning in their gazes.

"But why would I do that?"

And just like that, the light fades from their eyes. Blue twitches.

His grandfather blathers on. "Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander. You've seen the little buggers running around the enclosures when I let them out to get some fresh air, but I'm very careful with handling them for a reason. Their Pokéballs are unregistered - that was an entire nightmare of a process to manage. It took so long to get them here in the first place. Not to mention the trial-and-error with using them for compatibility testing!"

The next slide has images of the three Pokémon arranged close to the middle of the screen in a loose circle.

"Months. If I give away even one of these three, I'm doing more than just handing out one of my most valuable research specimens for free. You're asking me to sacrifice all of the time I've ever spent on them - that everyone involved has spent on them."

"But you promised!" snaps Blue. Leaf nods in ardent agreement, as does Red.

"That I have! That's why I have another proposal: a way for you to compensate me for this gift... with a number of other benefits."

"...huh?"

"First, let's go back to the results of your tests!" The slide animates the images of the three Pokémon being pulled into the center of the screen in a small clump, after which numerous varied silhouettes fade in from all sides to join them. "If you kids demonstrate an affinity for Pokémon of such varied Types - and especially those that combat each other so effectively - what would you say that implies about your affinities?"

"Do we even have any?" Leaf tosses out lightly, not expecting the offhand comment to land.

"Why, I had the same thought!" Professor Oak smiles. "This implies that your affinities are of a more... fundamental nature. If my theory is correct, you three may be able to connect to any Pokémon you encounter. An ability I could only ever dream of."

There's a long pause before the Professor continues, enough to let that possibility sink in.

Though they haven't ever had one themselves, the three kids have all grown up in an age of Pokémon battling, where League matches, challenges, exhibitions and more are broadcasted every day. Everyone knows of at least one Gym Leader and their specialty. They understand that a Trainer tends to have three Pokémon on hand at most, and those don't change too often.

Common sense tells them it's not that easy to just catch more Pokémon and battle with them. You can't set your eyes on whichever one you encounter without hitting some sort of restriction, some inherent limit.

Yet here's the leading authority on Pokémon, suggesting that they might be able to disregard those limits.

Red, Blue, and Leaf are three very different people, with mismatched tastes and diverging personalities. In this moment, however, they share an unbidden, alluring excitement. Previous thoughts, concerns, questions - go flying out the window.

Any Pokémon in the world? Truly?

"Gramps... what do you even want us to do? Where do we start testing that theory?"

"Why, right here in Pallet Town!" Professor Oak smiles wide, and spreads his arms out wider. "For starters, make your choice."

---

[ ] Bulbasaur
- Grass.
- Quadrupedal amphibian with a bulb on its back, two powerful tentacle-like vines, and the ability to photosynthesize.
- Careful
- Range, Versatility.




[X] Charmander
- Fire.
- Bipedal reptilian with a nimble body, deceptively unassuming claws, and a flame that burns brightly in accordance with both its health and emotions.
- Bold
- Offense, Speed.




[ ] Squirtle
- Water.
- Reptilian with a durable shell, curled tail, aquatic maneuverability, and the ability to spray foamy water from its mouth with great force and accuracy.
- Impish
- Defense, Force.


(EDIT: for clarity, the natures listed are largely included for narrative/characterization purposes - there are no numbered stats to be affected by them gameplay-wise.)

---

Alright, welcome back. Life-changing adventure-defining major character decisions, Part 2.

Blue will probably choose whichever starter has the type advantage over yours, and Leaf will then gleefully take the type advantage over his.

The other characters and their Pokémon will still exist and you'll get to see everyone in action eventually, so don't worry about never getting to read about the Pokémon you don't pick.

Vote for whichever starter you'd like to see Red have!