Pokémon Emerald: CHYOA Edition

It was dark in the back of the moving truck. Em still wasn’t quite sure why Mom made him sit in the back with all the boxes. There were two perfectly good seats up front and the moving pokemon she hired were perfectly content to sit in their pokeballs. The truck came to a rumbling stop. A few seconds passed and the door finally opened, letting bright sunlight shine into the back of the truck. Em took his first few steps in Hoenn.

“Em, we’re here, honey! It must be tiring riding with our things in the moving truck. Well, this is Littleroot Town. How do you like it? This is our new home! It has a quaint feel, but it seems to be an easy place to live, don’t you think? And, you get your own room, Em! Let’s go inside.”

Mom rushed out to meet Em, blabbered excitedly, then pulled him inside with her.

“See, Em? Isn’t it nice in here, too? The mover’s Pokemon do all the work of moving us in and cleaning up after. This is so convenient! Em, your room is upstairs. Go check it out, dear! Ma bought you a new clock to mark our move here. Don’t forget to set it!”

Mom and Ma, Em’s adoptive parents, loved to dote on him in the most mundane ways. A clock, a pair of shoes, new bedsheets, just average little things to show they care. Em grew up a quiet kid, he never really talked unless it was absolutely necessary, so he didn’t blame them for not really knowing what to get him. Even now, after turning 20, he barely spoke.

Two huge vigoroths were busy moving boxes and unpacking them as Em made his way upstairs to… the only room? If this was to be Em’s room, where would Mom and Ma sleep? Not one to question things too deeply, he simply walked over to his clock and set it. Mom walked up as soon as he had finished.

“Em, how do you like your new room?”

He gave her a silent smile.

“Good! Everything’s put away neatly! They finished moving everything in downstairs, too. Pokemon movers are so convenient! Oh, you should make sure that everything’s all there on your desk.”

With that, she walked back downstairs. Em walked past the tv with the Nintendo GameCube hooked up to a Game Boy Advance as the controller and looked over his desk. He flipped open the notebook. There was some old gibberish in there, so he put it down and booted up the PC. No mail. He turned it off and walked downstairs.

“Oh! Em, Em! Quick! Come Quickly!”

Em rushed over to Mom where she was watching the tv in the center of the room.

“Look! It’s Petalburg Gym! Maybe Ma will be on!”

Em turned his attention to the tv just as the interviewer made their closing remarks.

“Oh… It’s over. I think Ma was on, but we missed her. Too bad. Oh, yes. One of Ma’s friends lives in town. Professor Birch is her name. She lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself.”

Mom sat at the table, reading a romance novel and effectively ignoring the world around her. Em shrugged mentally and headed out the door in search of this Birch lady. Walking in Hoenn felt weird, like his shoes just weren’t right for running. He made his way next door and walked inside with no issue. Just like in Johto, it seems most people in Hoenn don’t lock their doors.

“Oh, hello. And you are?”

A lady walked up to Em and started to talk to him. He debated if answering was strictly necessary in this situation.

“Oh, you’re Em, our new next-door neighbor! Hi!”

Not necessary, he thought as he smiled at his neighbor.

“We have a daughter about the same age as you. Our daughter was excited about making a new friend. She’s upstairs, I think.”

I’m looking for the professor, not your daughter… He thought, though it was clear the lady expected him to go upstairs. Go upstairs and what, look at her daughter?

There was a younger girl walking back and forth playing on a Game Boy Advance in front of the tv. Only younger than Em by a year or two, making her at least eighteen.

Lady, your daughter is right here. Em thought as he walked up to her.

“Hi, neighbor! Do you already have your own pokemon?”

Em shook his head no, and she promptly went back to playing her game, all interest lost.

Well then, maybe they have two daughters and only one of them wants friends, he grumbled mentally as he walked upstairs.

The upstairs bedroom was just as small as the one in Em’s house, even though there were even more people living here. He didn’t question the logistics of this, instead wondering where the girl that was supposed to be up here was.

Maybe they really do only have one daughter and the Professor’s wife is just a little blind…

As he thought that, a girl about his age walked upstairs into the room and nearly bumped into him.

“Huh? Who… Who are you?”

Em stood silently with an awkward smile, once again debating whether he needed to speak up or not.

“Oh, you’re Em. So your move was today. Um… I’m May. Glad to meet you! I… I have this dream of becoming friends with pokemon all over the world. I… I heard about you, Em, from my mom, Professor Birch. I was hoping that you would be nice, Em, and that we could be friends. Oh, this is silly isn’t it? I… I’ve just met you, Em.” She laughed nervously. “Oh, no! I forgot! I was supposed to go help mom catch some wild pokemon! Em, I’ll catch you later!”

She rushed to her PC, her fingers flying over the keyboard at a rapid pace. Clearly, Em would just get in the way if he stuck around in her room, so he left. The lady downstairs (one of May’s moms? May and Em had quite a bit in common.) was sitting at the table reading a romance novel. It was a different novel from the one Mom was reading, though Em noticed it was by the same author. May’s younger sister was still pacing aimlessly and tapping away at her game as Em walked out the door.

He was walking back home when he heard a cute howl coming from the only path leading away from Littleroot. Curious, he walked towards it. A young girl, looking to be May’s sister’s age, turned to him as he walked past her.

“Um, hi! There are scary pokemon outside! I can hear their cries! I want to go see what’s going on, but I don’t have any pokemon… Can you go see what’s happening for me?”

Em nodded, already having planned on seeing what could make such tiny and adorable growling sounds. He walked a few steps forwards and heard someone cry out.

“H-help me!”

Em rushed forwards.

“Hello! You over there! Please! Help!”

A woman was being chased by a tiny four legged creature with light and dark brown zig zag patterns going down its body.

“In my bag! There’s a pokeball!”

Em understood immediately and rushed to the bag. There were three pokeballs in the bag. He had to make a choice. A choice he felt might change his life forever and decide his fate. One so fundamental it would ripple out in space time, affecting everyone and everything… Or something like that. He reached in and picked up a random ball, throwing it onto the ground with the intent of releasing whatever creature was inside.