(ROM Hack prologue in media is by TrainerRYSA! Guys, like, this kid has some talent and dedication! We should all stalk them because I am shit with technology -how Ironic- and this is amazing)

I grunted and tossed the woolen covers to the foot of my bed. Rolling my neck forward groggily, I swung my legs over the side of my bed. My feet pressed into the chilled wooden panels that made up my room's flooring. As I should be panicked that I have probably just been kidnapped, I felt an odd tranquility instead. Maybe heavy confusion really.

I sucked in a cheek as my eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance, though with the situation. My room is carpeted with white polypropylene. Well, after years of not cleaning it, the carpet threads turned an eggshell color. Where ever I am, my captors didn't make any effort to trick me into this being my home. I scanned the sweet nectar walls and noticed some picture frames hanging. I took subtle strides over to them and picked up on the fact that they were all covered in a thin blanket of dust, they had been hanging there for months I guessed.

The photos in them caused me to recoil.

No, these aren't pictures... They are drawings by some cartoonist. I determined in my mind. I looked at the even coloration, the presence of shadows that had a fine defining line between them and the skin. Though soon I realized the picture I had been examining was the exact same I had in my real room.

It was my middle school graduation.

There was a little me with black nerd glasses and my muddy hair tied into a neat pony tail sitting over my shoulder. In my right hand was a beige diploma pressed into my chest. The other was giving the camera a peace sign. I was showing a pearly grin bursting with excitement while my mother stood behind with a narrow hand placed over my shoulder. My heart felt a small pang as I saw her expression.

She was smiling.

As much as my mother really had cared, in the picture I had in my room she wasn't smiling. She never smiled for me, really. In the actual photo, she just stood somberly gazing off into the distance. It was when I remorse at the artist's poor portrayal that I saw what else they had changed.

A man was in the photo, standing with us proudly.

Half his head was cut off by the photo's rim, but his lips were curled back into a smile. The same one I would get when I broke through a code. The overwhelming pride I would feel just emanated from the man. I ripped the frame from where it hung on the wall and let it drop.

Shatter against the hard wood flooring.

I really was baffled at myself for what I just had done. All I could was stare between my trembling hand and the broken refinance. The pounding of footsteps came from a staircase in the upper right corner of my room. I craned my neck around to see a woman burst forth into the room, my muscles winding to attack who I assumed my captor was.

My eyes widened.

It was my mother. But she was in the same anime form the pictures had been. Her dark eyes trembled while she gazed at me, "Leaf, are you okay? I heard something---" her gaze fell down to the broken photo at my bare feet, and she sighed. "You still... Aren't taking it well..." Her voice trailed off.

I moved my right ear closer to my shoulder to cock my head. My own words from before slipped into the back of my mind, "Taking what not well?" The fact I am completely and utterly confused about where I am? Well, she probably wouldn't know if I asked her. From her demeanor, it seemed that she belonged in this weirdness. Soon, my mind had also processed that my surroundings were in the same anime style. Though, I contained the bewilderment that enacted my body to throb.

The woman's face softened, her eyes filling with a sadness, "His death. You are having trouble taking in your father's untimely death, right? From the luxurious Saffron City to the small Pallet Town... I just thought it would be better for you, us, to be away from where he died."

From this point onward, I knew this wasn't right. It wasn't an act, though. Not from the way that this woman carried herself. Where ever I was, this was real.

My fists clenched slightly as I blinked to her and processed her words carefully. I still can recall the thoughts I had then. So, I knew my father apparently. But he has passed on here too. And I moved too because my mom thought it would be "Better for me". Just like she always thinks.

"Where... How did father die again?" my voice trembled out to learn more of what was going on. My mother's face filled with a concern that I didn't know. "I'm sorry, my mind just isn't working right now. I bumped my head waking up and everything is really confusing right now." I half-lied.

"Oh..." My mother hushed in a daze before snapping back. "Your father was working overtime at Silph Co. that night. It was the night Team Rocket took Saffron, remember? You and I were locked in our house for nearly a week until that boy, Red, showed up. It was after the boy had defeated Team Rocket, and that we could leave our homes, that we found out what happened to your dad. He--- he resisted. He didn't obey Team Rocket nor flee in time. And they weren't the villains from your childhood TV shows, Leaf. They didn't spare anyone who didn't do what they said," this woman who resembled my mom in every way filled with the shadowy darkness I would see fill my own mother when on the topic of my father. Her eyes started to glaze over like pottery. "If that boy just came faster. One week was too long for us to wait."

My mind reeled with the buzzing questions. The ones I probably should have been asking myself earlier in this conversation. Saffron City? Pallet town? Team Rocket? Silph Co.? Red. The world around me felt utterly real in every sort. But looked fake. These names were generated by someone else.

This is a dream. I decided. A very believable dream. Or coma. I could be in a coma from that electrocution. That makes sense. I'm going with it.

Also at this I blinked suddenly, remembering how I had avoided playing my Pokemon Red Version for a week right before I saved Silph Co.. To this time I still don't understand if those two facts were linked, but I really didn't mind it too much back then.

My mother clicked her tongue and pushed forward a small, yet practiced, smile, "Now leave me to clean this up. You have a visitor downstairs."

"Well, can I get dressed first?" I muttered, finding myself instinctually playing along with this dream. I gazed down hesitantly at the grey sweatpants and black hoodie I had been wearing, presently. My mother laughed quietly, something I had rarely heard from her before. She nodded and proceeded back down the stairway. I shook my head, taking this in as all a game-induced dream.

Or nightmare.

I swung open the closet doors and felt a new heavy weight on my shoulders, "So much variety..." I growled sarcastically as I only saw one outfit constantly repeated in the closet. A black tank top. A Blue over shirt without sleeves. A red mini-skirt. Red and White sneakers. And blue legwarmers. No socks, just legwarmers.

Very, dancer-like. Or 1980's. Legwarmers were a trend in the 1980's. Not a good one, in my opinion.

On a shelf that took up about 3 feet of my closet top was stacked high with the same exact, repeating hat. It was white researcher's hat, minus the chinstrap, with a red line running across it. Then a small rising bump in the middle.

"Well, I think I know what I'm going wearing today now..." I grumbled as I slipped the clothes on. Finally finished, I trotted over to a small wall hanging mirror to fix my hat. "And, I look cartooned like the rest of this dream. Wonderful," my muddy bangs were ruffling out from under where my hat sat, and no matter how much I tried to fix it.... There was no way to get rid of the fluff.

I still have it today, you know?

Once I was done "admiring" myself in the mirror I wandered down the steps into the house's living room. It was pretty basic. At the back center of the living space was an old box TV. To the very upper left corner was a sink and cupboard that was chocked full of plates and utensils. Greeting guests who entered the house on both sides were two luscious green house plants. In the middle of the room was a large green wool carpet with some white patterned into it. What sat atop the rug was a square wooden table with four seats.

My mom sat in the one closest to me, her dark locks cascading down her back. She turned to me with a great big grin, "Leaf! Did you know that one of our new neighbors is the champion of Kanto! And he's such a good child! He even came to greet and welcome us in person!"

It clicked in my head. But I didn't want to believe it.

I rolled my eyes and took a breath as I fabricated a nonchalant facade, "That's very nice, mom, that some power consumed ego-maniac came to visit us to give us a 'good-impression'. Watch him tear down our house in a week because he wants to expand his own," I grimly remembered it was by the Champion's decree from before whatever in the world is going on right now.

"Ehem," A voice said across from the table. I peered around my mom's figure to feel all my hair stand on end. The spiky haired teen sat cross-legged sipping a cup of whatever my mother had made for him. From the aroma that wafted around the room, I guessed it was an Earl Gray Tea, "not to shut you down or anything, Miss Leaf, but I don't like being described as a Power consumed ego-maniac. I am just only a bit cocky." He smirk though consisted with an oozing arrogance. His maple colored eyes swirled with a childish amusement as they scanned me up and down.

I give him a quick sneer before my mom stood up from her seat, "Leaf!" Her eyes gave me the scolding stare as her mouth moved angrily. "That is a very rude thing to state in front of---"

Blue stood also, setting his porcelain tea cup onto a small plate with a light clank. He paced up behind my nerve-wracked mother and patted her shoulder, "Mrs. Green, let it go. She's just a kid."

"I am not a kid!" I snapped quicker than I realized. "I will have you know I am 15 years old and have an IQ of 172! The only reason I'm not in college is because mom didn't want me to be in a place surrounded by older people! Inferiority complexes are a pain in the butt to deal with! But I am loads smarter than you so do not, under any circumstances, refer to me as a kid!"

My mother was mortified by my outburst, she was even rendered speechless. Of all things, what happened next, I hadn't expected. The ginger burst out into laughter, wiping a tear away from his eye, "You're telling me that you and I are on the same level? Or you are higher than me?" his rolls of laugher just infuriated me further. "I thought you'd be some 10 year old!"

"Shut up!"

His laughs cut off as he grew more mature, "You really want to take that tone with me?" Blue rose an eyebrow in suspicion. "Leaf, was it? I need to talk to you outside for a moment." His eyes shown that he knew me, he held spite in his melted eyes. He walked out our door with only a slight thank you to my mother before shutting it calmly behind him. My response was only a grunt as I took his dish to the sink. I held the cup over it like the thing was radioactive. With much detestation, I let the hazel liquid pour down the drain.

From behind, I heard foot-tapping, "Well. Aren't you going to see what he wants?"

I let out a puff of air, "Aren't you going to mourn over dad more?"

Mother inhaled sharply. Her tone became frosty and injured, "You have a real chance here, Leaf."

I turned the sink handle and let the water run over the dishes, "At what mom?"

"At a friendship," She said, her eyes bore into me with conflicting emotions. "You were never one to be social. He is outgoing, interactive, polite. He'd be good for you, Leaf."

"Polite?" again, I recalled the dialog I had read the champion say before this mess I still don't understand, yet rolled with. "Good for me?" I scoffed, setting the plate and cup at the bottom of the steel sink. "What would have been good for me would be a mom who actually listened. Not one who buried herself in work since father died. A mom who was actually there for me."

"What do you mean, Leaf? I've been here for you, with open ears."

I paused for a moment. Taking a deep breath I calmed myself. I spun around on my heel and smiled brightly, remembering this isn't real. She isn't real, "It's nothing, mom! I'll go out and talk to Blue now!" before she could respond, I sprinted over and out the door. I pressed myself against the door and sucked my lips in. I noticed that where a trainer sign had been under Red's house, next to the lab, was where my home had now stood. Very interesting....

"Nice little break down you had in there," a voice snickered.

I shot a sharp glare at Blue who stood in front of me with a painted smirk, "What do you want? More of, what is going on here? I get that I am somehow in the pokemon world and all but how? Oh God, this has to be all some bad dream. Right? You are a figment of my imagination."

He chuckled, "That's a lot of questions even though you already seem dead set on your answer. Why so many questions, smarty?"

"It's genius," I corrected, "and the brightest people ask the most questions. Now talk."

He rose his hands in surrender, "Fine, fine. But you won't like the answer. First, right now, you are in the game. Your game. Pokemon Red Version." I gawked at him.

Impossible. Impossible, impossible, impossible!

"I'm just a program here, so I can't explain much. I just know that there is something more intricate going on in this than you realize," his voice iced over, ignoring how I stared at him with fear. "And hacking is a big No-No. Once you had played though the game and I had become champion, I had the power to control the fail-safes against hackers like you. Though, you seemed persistent. Sadly, once it came too far and you wanted to re-write our deepest codes, I had to cut you off. I was forced to banish Red. See, the avatar's you play are equally responsible with the fail-safe enacting since it is their player."

I cocked my head, a few of my stray locks tumbled over my shoulder, "Really? But I never once saw a part of the system try to stop me from hacking until you were champion." I started to kick myself internally since that is all I could say. Why not, "This is impossible!" or "This isn't right!" I don't know. I just freaked out inside.

Blue sighed, his expression filling with a bitterness, "Exactly. Maybe Red's program was glitching, but maybe it wasn't. Either way, he let you hack the entire way so I was forced to punish him. As much as the dude was my rival, he was my neighbor and friend since we were children."

I hesitated. For the briefest moment, I brushed away my confusion and questioning as it struck me that even programs had emotions. Histories. A life. I guessed if you wrote something a past, it would have feelings.

"So why am I here?" I inquired finally with the right questions.

"Because. Just punishing him would do nothing. You need to learn your lesson," Blue said in all seriousness. "You're going to play though this, obtain every badge, fight every trainer, and defeat the pokemon league without your handicaps--- or hacks as you like to call them."

I took a breath, taking it in slowly, "Sounds easy enough. But I repeat, why am I in the game?"

"Because. This is life, there are no do-overs. All in the same, you will also be taking responsibility for your actions. Cleaning the mess you made. You have to clear this game of all the hacks you had imported in. And yes, that also means Red's pokemon. Also, you will not be able to reach Mt. Silver until you beat the pokemon league, which includes me. You are in the game to see how us programs feel, how we have to life in this game. Be lucky you aren't being controlled by some greater being," I shot him a look of disbelief and he sighed. "You know, Red almost never talked. That's why I hated him for a few years. Once he did talk, I realized what he said was important. But you can't change the way you felt for someone for so long, so it turned into a rivalry for us... At some point, I saw my own grandfather begin to favor him over me.... Yet it still hurt when I had to banish him."

"Uh huh, I see that you programs feel now but... How am I supposed to play this game though? I already beat it with Red as my Avatar," I explained.

Blue squeezed his eyes shut and gave a very forced smile, "Arceus, you're really a pesky girl. For someone so smart, you just won't get it. You just have to beat all the gym leaders then challenge the elite four. Beat them of course. Following this train of thought, since Red chose Charmander and as his rival I picked Squirtle... You're left with Bulbasaur. By the way, your hacks for getting all the starters are so cheap. You basically just copied their format too for getting Mew. I was just surprised Red never froze the game at those moments," from his bag he pulled out a small red and white sphere. He grabbed my wrist and buried the technology into my hand.

"Since you are in our world now, I suggest you learn our lingo. Your God is our Arceus. Any of your animals are our pokemon," and his parting words I will never be able to forget. "Well. Smell ya' later." He said in a monotone before stalking off back to his home.

I was left with still lingering bewilderment and confusion. I tried to sum everything up in my head. I've been sucked into my game. The characters have lives beyond what the gamers have played. I am in that game. I have to play the game in first person. And can't restart. Or cheat. I am really, truly, in the game? I have to remove what I have imported. Which is... Red's pokemon. Red's items. Mew. I think I also hacked some locations along the way. I have no clue how to do any of this because I don't have my laptop. And to finalize this,

I. am in. my video game.

That morning, I didn't bother telling my mom I was leaving. I just held the pokeball in my hand as I walked out onto route one. I looked into the small piece of technology and started muttering bitter words to myself,

"I don't like Bulbasaur, though."