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Pokémon Shifted Earth (Rebooted)

Extension_Driver

Bug Catcher
Pronouns
he/him

I've been allowed to continue on with Pokemon: Shifted Earth due to the original author being unable to continue it. Enjoy!​

Content Warnings:​

  1. The fic's tone is fairly grounded in the way it describes the events that transpire after Pokemon suddenly appear on Earth. It also has its dark moments, given the premise - but the story is still somewhat hopeful.
  2. Violence and Injury to animals, Pokemon, and (possibly) humans.
  3. Depictions of trauma/fear.

Pokemon: Shifted Earth - Rebooted​

Chapter 1​



In a Brisbane police station’s break room, Officer Ryan Terwin pressed a few buttons on a coffee machine.

He turned around as he heard footsteps behind him. Police Chief Edward handed him a stapled together stack of papers.

“Here. New materials for your case.”

Ryan picked up his coffee and began to read. The contents were more than a little depressing.



Video Transcript – “Pichu Challenge 2028! (TRY NOT TO LAUGH)”

The scene opens on a grassy field in a deserted city park in Australia. A group of college-aged students are talking amongst each other. They show signs of being inebriated, with empty beer cans near them. A male, presumably the cameraman, speaks.


Male #1: “Hey, guys! Anyone who can pick up this Pichu here without getting shocked gets $200!”

A second student looks around, checking for any passers-by.

Male #2: All clear.

One of the female students approaches the Pichu.

Female #1: “Hello, little guy.”

She picks the Pichu up before bringing it to the table. It struggles initally, but finding itself unable to escape, discharges some electricity from its cheeks. Her friends laugh.

Male #2: “Look at that! Lauren’s already failed the challenge!”

The female student hands the Pichu off to another student. This student pinches the Pichu’s static pouches with a slight twist, leading to them getting shocked.

Male #1: “Daniel, hand him off to me! Lemme see how you like this, bud.”

The cameraman puts the phone down, camera facing up. It shows him pulling the Pichu’s tail as it shierks in pain.

Male #2: “Wimp. You didn’t even pinch his cheeks!”

Male #1: “Hah! Let’s--”

The Pichu looses a Thundershock, hitting the group of students. They retch and vomit for a while before standing up.

Male #1: “Oh, fuck! Let’s get outta here!”

The recording ends.



Officer Ryan sighed as he put down the stack of papers. These dumb college students had decided that manhandling a Pokemon for internet clout was worth more than their lives.

Only a month into the Shift, and then this happens, he told himself.

At least they were dumb enough to post it up with comments. “Has the video been taken down yet?” he asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” Edward replied. “It’s still up. Worse is, they’ve been getting a lot of likes and comments on that video. The good news is, these kids were dumb enough to leave links to their Facebook accounts, among other things, in the description. We’ve got in touch with their parents now.”

Ryan sighed. With super-powered creatures around, his job wasn’t getting any easier. “I guess they’ll start with the underage drinking first,” he muttered to his partner, Neil. “Grab them for that, then find out what else they were doing – apart from the abuse and drunkeness.”

Edward nodded. “There’s also the question of that Pichu.”

“What about it?” Ryan asked, sipping scalding hot coffee. He smiled as it burned his tongue. Anything to forget the insanity the world was going through, with fantastical monsters roaming the world.

“Well, some animal control workers found it. They’ve been trying to care for it at an animal shelter,” Neil said. “That’s what I heard, anyway. It’s not far from here.”

“Oh.” Ryan put his coffee down. Frankly, he wouldn’t expect anything less.

“Man, I can’t imagine what they’d do with it. Quite irresponsible to release a creature like that out into the wilds.” Neil shook his head. “These Pokemon have been out here for only a few months. A lot of them are still scared and confused. Not to mention they know so little about our world.”

Ryan said nothing as he kept reading the report. While the video had gone viral mere hours after it was posted, with billions upon billions of views, a little more than a quarter of the three-thousand comments were rightfully horrified. The Pokemon who had arrived on Earth were declared sapient beings only a week ago, with a basic bill of rights already drawn up and passed for them.

He dreaded speaking to raucous teenagers with little regard for others. Luckily that dreaded talk and phone call with the parents would be some days away.

“Where’s the shelter that Pichu was taken to?” he asked. “I want to call them, see how that Pichu’s holding up.”

“It’s the ‘RSPCA Brisbane Animal Care Campus’, Edward replied. “Sure, call them if you must.”

Ryan dialed the number and pressed ‘call’. The too-cheery voice of the receptionist came through. “Hello! This is the Brisbane Animal Care Campus. How may I help you today?”

“I’m Officer Ryan Terwin, calling to discuss a Pichu that was brought in recently in an abuse case.”

“Yes, we’ve got the little guy here. He’s sparking every time one of the workers approach him. What do you want to speak to us for?”

“I want to speak to the Pichu. Ask a Psychic-Type to be there too, for translation purposes.”

“Hmm,” The receptionist sounded concerned. “We don’t have any Pokemon of our own, but there are a few Psychic-types wandering the streets outside. Asking them would be easy enough. When can you come in?”

“I can be there in two day’s time, at the most. What time would work best for you?”

“Let’s see.” Ryan heard some keys tapping on a keyboard. “Thursday, 1:30pm?”

“That works for me. Goodbye!”

“Bye!” The receptionist said. Ryan only heard a click and a dial tone before he hung up.

“Right. That’s settled then.” His shift was over. Sure, having coffee late messed with his digestion – but it was better than getting tired at a bad time.

He started his car’s engine and drove back home.



“Dad!” Marcus shouted as Ryan came in.

“Hello, son. How was your day at school?

“Great! We got to see some wild Pokemon running around in the fields near the school. Mr. Davies wouldn’t let us get near them!”

“Now, now, son. I know you saw your dream come true – but Pokemon can be dangerous. Mr. Davies wanted you to be safe. You hear me?”

Marcus pouted. “Dad! I saw you help save some Pokemon on the news in the First Days! They were really happy for you to help!”

“They were. But not all Pokemon are like that. Some of them can get angry easily, or hurt you if you hurt their children. You understand?”

Marcus nodded.

“Alright!” Sandra said. “We’re getting takeaway tonight. What’ll it be?”

“Hello honey!” Ryan said with a chuckle. “Let’s see. Pizza for tonight?”

“That sounds great!” Sandra replied. “What would you two like?”



After some arguing, the family settled on a meat-lover’s and a cheese pizza. A small amount of garlic bread was also added on, for tomorrow’s breakfast.

As they ate, Sandra began, “So, how was your day, Ryan?”

He sighed. “Not too much. We did get some older children causing trouble in the park.”

“Oh? Marcus replied. “What were they doing?”

Ryan shook his head. “You’re nine years old, Marcus. That stuff isn’t for you to know.”

“Dad! Please!”

Ryan sighed. “They were drinking beer. Of course, they weren’t supposed to.” He decided to leave out the most concerning part of the crime out; his son didn’t need to know about that.

“See, Dad? I know that wasn’t too hard. Besides, you catch bad guys and stop them!”

Sandra ruffled Marcus’ hair. “He does, honey. If you want more stories from each other, finish your meal first.”



Ryan frowned as he sat in front of the TV. There wasn’t much on the news; since the teenagers hadn;t been caught, there was no stories on about them.

A reporter droned on about the case of a teacher in Los Angeles attempting to teach young Pokemon to read.

“It’s quite an interesting idea,” she said. “If these things are capable of reason, imagine what they could do!”

He tuned out the questions from the reporters.

The truth was, he had little idea how to deal with this. He sighed. The day was likely turning into a month of long work.
 
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Namohysip

Dragon Enthusiast
Staff
Partners
  1. flygon
  2. charizard
  3. milotic
  4. zoroark-soda
  5. sceptile
  6. marowak
  7. jirachi
  8. meganium
Allowed to continue because the original after was unable? Huh, that's interesting... What part of the story is where you started, and what part was original? Or is it just a rewrite? Well, either way, for now, I'll just review it as a whole and hope you can glean from that something useful.

Yeesh, harassing a Pichu. I'd say that they were playing with fire, but I think that's technically the wrong Type. Anyway, interesting to see this style of writing, where it's more like a script log for that portion, before transitioning back to present-day narration. I think that's a clever way to depict a video from a 'limited perspective' compared to being over someone's shoulder in the present day. I hadn't thought of it from that angle before.

Ah yes, being dumb enough to leave links to their profiles is a classic one. Definitely a matter of real life being stranger than fiction sometimes.

"The Shift"... I knew that capitalization was important. So these are legit Pokemon that randomly appeared one day, and... oh dear, yeah, reality sets in after a few months. Frankly I'm surprised the stronger ones didn't just level towns at this point if the dark sides of humanity got to them first, so to speak.

Wow, having a random Psychic Pokemon wandering around for the sake of translation is a pretty clever, mundane-level solution to a fairly complex problem. I kind of like the touches going on here and there for the world building happening casually in just this first chapter. I'm not sure what it means for the main story, though. Are we basically following this person as he acclimates to a Shifted world?

Seems that's how it's opening, at least. I notice a lack of Poke Balls, which also makes sense... which means, that's a new wrinkle to how to handle them. Perhaps it'll be more like Detective Pikachu, where you have a partner with you? That's... probably gonna be the Pichu, I bet. Then maybe it really will be like Detective Pikachu, ha!

Anyway, that was fun. Check for a few typos, though. I spotted a semicolon where it should have been an apostrophe. Until next time, though, thanks for the read!
 

Extension_Driver

Bug Catcher
Pronouns
he/him
Allowed to continue because the original after was unable? Huh, that's interesting... What part of the story is where you started, and what part was original? Or is it just a rewrite? Well, either way, for now, I'll just review it as a whole and hope you can glean from that something useful.
The new chapter above this post (Chapter 2) is a new chapter. The original only featured Chapter 1.


"The Shift"... I knew that capitalization was important. So these are legit Pokemon that randomly appeared one day, and... oh dear, yeah, reality sets in after a few months. Frankly I'm surprised the stronger ones didn't just level towns at this point if the dark sides of humanity got to them first, so to speak.

Wow, having a random Psychic Pokemon wandering around for the sake of translation is a pretty clever, mundane-level solution to a fairly complex problem. I kind of like the touches going on here and there for the world building happening casually in just this first chapter. I'm not sure what it means for the main story, though. Are we basically following this person as he acclimates to a Shifted world?
Yes! The story follows Ryan Terwin as he tries to adapt to a world fundamentally changed.
Secondly, yes, this is a more pessimistic take on what would happen if Pokemon actually showed up on Earth.

Chapter 2​



Ryan woke up, bright and early the morning of the scheduled meeting. He toasted some bread and made himself a coffee.

Marcus came into the kitchen, looking around. “Morning, son. Sleep well?”

“Not bad,” Marcus replied.

“Good.” Ryan took out a box of wheat cereal and milk, mixing them. “Eat that. I’ll go get toast and butter done.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Marcus began to eat. “Mr Davies isn’t too happy with kids trying to make friends with Pokemon. I know they can breathe fire and shoot electricity but they are so cute!”

“I know, son,” Ryan said. “You can wake up early and catch another episode of the Pokemon show up on TV when you get home from school today.”

“Dad!” Marcus said, dropping his spoon into the bowl. “These shows are boring because the Pokemon in them aren’t real!” He pointed to the street outside, where a few Pokemon or various types were seen in a nearby park. “These ones are!”

Sarah came into the kitchen, grabbing toast and jam. “Once you finish your meal, get your bag. We’re leaving for school.”

Ryan nodded. “I won’t be on until noon, so I’ll do the dishes.” He watched as the duo finished their meal and left. Once he finished eating, he placed the plates into the sink and began to wash up. Hopefully, the meeting would go well.



The RSPCA Brisbane Animal Care Campus’s doors dinged as they opened to admit Ryan.

“I’m here for the talk with the Pichu,” he said.

“Or course, officer.” The receptionist led her to a small room with a table and two chairs. He saw the Pichu sitting in one and an empty chair on the side nearest the door. An Espeon came up to him and sat near him.

“Hello, Pichu. I am Officer Terwin. Right now, I want to ask you a few questions regarding current events. Please respond is truthfully as possible. Is that clear?”

The Pichu gave a squeak.

Hello, Officer. You may refer to me by my species name. The Pichu there understands what you just said.” The noted that the voice sounded masculine.

“Understood, Espeon. Now, I heard that two days ago, three teenaged humans attacked you. Are you feeling any pain or discomfort?”

The Pichu shook its head.

“I heard from a report that the teenagers pinched your left static pouch and pulled your tail. Are you sure you are not injured?”

Again, a shake of the head.

“I see. Do you have a family member that you know the location of?”

The Pichu gave a few squeaks before shrugging.

Ryan noticed the Pichu gesture around itself before squeaking a few times. He saw it gesture to him and the Espeon.

He’s saying that he doesn't know where any of his parents are, or if they’re still alive.” The Espeon paused. Ryan noticed the Pichu slumping.

"What was he saying before?"

"He asked if you were a Trainer - specifically, if I was your Pokemon."

“I am not a trainer. Listen. I don't know what will happen to you afterwards. Most likely, you'll be released into the wild."

The Pichu looked terrified. It shook its head rapidly and began crying. Ryan didn't need a translation to know what it wanted.

"Wait here.”

Ryan moved over to the front desk.

“I’ve spoken to that Pichu and he’s not injured or anything. He also mentioned not knowing where his family is.”

“That’s one problem,” the receptionist replied. ‘We can’t keep him here permanently. In the pre-Shift days we'd release any wild animals.

"Ryan shook his head. "When I mentioned that you'd release him, he became extremely distressed. He also asked if I was a trainer, and I told him no. From his reaction, he didn't like my answer."

As the receptionist remained silent, Ryan continued, "I'll adopt him. That decision is final. If that Pichu were human, I would do everything possible to find his parents or a suitable home for him. The same applies here."

The receptionist looked shocked. “I-- well, if you want to– ”

‘Think of it this way. He doesn’t know where his family is, he’s on a world that he’s never known, and he looks quite young. That won’t be conducive to his survival. I’m taking him in, no exceptions.”

The receptionist frowned. “I--”

“If you’re talking about potential medical issues, then that’s fine. I don’t know the first thing about it, but I’m sure you’ll find a vet who’s willing.”

“It’s not that,” the receptionist said. “That Pichu is a sapient being in itself.”

“It’s the same no matter which way you slice it. He’s probably gonna die out in the wilds. Besides, I’m a police officer; it’s my obligation and duty to help those in need who cannot do so themselves. Secondly – people need to get used to living amongst Pokemon. If this thing works out, maybe it can show the world that coexistence is possible!”

“Listen,” the receptionist replied. “I know you’re eager for that, and I can see your arguments. There are other people doing much more than you have right now. That teacher in Los Angeles – Rebecca Werini – she’s trying to teach young Pokemon how to read and write. I just hope you can actually help this Pichu.”

“You have my word on it,” Ryan replied. He took out his pen. “Are there any adoption papers I must fill out?”

“We don’t even have these sort of protocols in place when it comes to Pokemon.” Shaking her head, the receptionist pulled out a form. “Here’s our standard form for animal adoptions. Fill this out and give it back to me when you’re done.”

Ryan sat down and filled it out, thinking. Having a young Pokemon with no knowledge of Earth wandering the world was probably going to result in disaster. No, better to teach it as much as he knew then send it on its way. Besides, if its original parents came around, maybe he would be able to hand them their child back.

He checked the clock. 2pm. He’d better hurry then.

He handed the form back as the receptionist announced the two-hundred dollar adoption fee. Grimacing, he swiped his card.

“Sorry, we still haven’t figured out what to do in this case yet. You coming here is literally the first time this sort of thing has happened.”

“Just give me a moment.” Ryan moved over to a nearby auto-shop, buying a baby seat. It was good as any for keeping a small Pokemon safely in place. He didn;t want to take risks after all.

It took a few minutes for him to fit it into his cruiser, but eventually he succeeded.

“Alright, I’m back.” He smiled as he moved towards the Pichu. “Don't worry, little guy. My family and I will take care of you.”

The Pichu squeaked indignantly and shot off sparks. “Aww, don’t worry. Come with me.” Back in the cruiser, he strapped the Pichu and himself in, heading to the police station to sign out.


Back home, he found Sarah on the couch.

“Home early?” she asked.

“Yep,” he replied. “Say hello to this little guy. Sarah, meet Pichu. Pichu, this is my wife, Sarah.”

The Pichu trotted up to Sarah and gave her hand a sniff. It squeaked in response – but what it meant, none of them could tell.

Sarah’s eyes went wide. ‘Where did you get a Pichu?”

“Aww, he was at an animal shelter. He’d just been brought in, so I decided to adopt him. Told the shelter staff I’d take care of him.”

“Why?”

“He’s got nowhere to go. Leaving him to wander the world alone without guidance would be cruel. If anything, he deserves to be friends with Marcus – in fact, this will be the perfect opportunity to teach Marcus how to handle Pokemon safely.” he paused. “Do we have gumboots or rubber gloves in the house?”

Sarah shook her head, watching electric sparks fall from the Pichu’s cheeks. “I’ll pick some up on the way to pick up Marcus from school.”

“Good,” Ryan said. "Get me a pair of blue gloves and boots. Ask Marcus for whatever color he wants, and pick your own – but make sure he doesn’t know about the Pichu until he gets home. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Got it!” Sarah got into her car and drove away.



“Welcome to your new home,” Ryan said. “I hope you like it here.”

He’d spent the last half-hour laying out ground rules for the Pichu to follow. Apart from the simple things, he’d had to add some more stuff due to the Pichu's electric powers.

The sound of Sarah’s car pulling into the garage snapped him awake.

One of the Pichu's ears perked up, and it cautiously sniffed the air.

“Dad!” Marcus shouted, bursting into the room. “Mom told me you had a surprise for me! Is it true?”

“Of course I do, son.” he stepped aside to reveal the Pichu.

“is that... a real Pichu?” Marcus pulled him into a hug. “You are the best, Dad!”

“Now, now, son. First – you must treat the Pichu here like your brother. Understood?” Ryan asked.

His son nodded.

“Secondly, when you are playing with him...” He watched Sarah placed the pair of gloves and boots on the table. “You are to wear these rubber gloves and boots at all times while playing with him – in fact, make that all of us. Is that clear? His electric sparks can still hurt you.”

Marcus watched the Pichu, sparks falling from its cheeks. “Yes, Dad.” Donning the rubber gloves and boots, he gently petted the Pichu on the head. It squeaked happily and rubbed one sparking cheek on his gloved hand.
 
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