Dante opened his eyes. Feeling the soft bed behind his back, he knew that he returned to the real world.
Just as he was about to turn sideways and sleep for the night, he felt something on his stomach. Looking down, he saw Pikachu blearily looking around while atop him.
"Pika?" (Huh, is it time for training already?)
When Pikachu saw that he was in an unfamiliar location, resting on top of an 'unknown' Pokemon, he immediately jumped away in panic.
"Pika, pika pi!" (What! Where am I?! Am I kidnapped?!)
"Pikachu, calm down! It's me, Dante."
"Pika!?" (DANTE!??)
After some frantic attempts of calming Pikachu down, Dante explained his situation to Pikachu.
"Pika-chu?" (So, you're a human, Dante? And you can travel to our world by transforming into Zorua?)
"Yup, and I can travel back to this world after I sleep in your world."
"Pika~" (Wow! So this is the world of humans? I heard most of them disappeared from our world thousands of years ago.)
Hearing what Pikachu said, Dante also remembered the situation of humans in the PMD world. Except for the protagonist, the plot didn't involve any other humans according to what Dante remembered.
Only in the first PMD series, the PMD Red Rescue Team, were there other humans involved. There was even the story about Gengar being transformed into a Pokemon by Ninetales there.
'So, was there something that happened thousands of years ago that led to the disappearance of the humans? Something done by the Legendaries, maybe?'
While Dante was thinking, Pikachu was looking around his room. Dante's room, except for the bed, the computer, and some books, doesn't really have anything interesting.
When Pikachu was about to step out of the room and continue exploring, Dante stopped him.
"I'll take you outside tomorrow, Pikachu. Let's rest for now. My parents are already sleeping so let's try to avoid disturbing them."
"Pika~"
Nodding in reluctance, Pikachu climbed Dante's bed once again. Once he laid down, the exhaustion that was temporarily forgotten suddenly came back. After some yawning, Pikachu fell asleep.
Looking at the sleeping Pikachu, Dante tried hard to keep himself from jumping in joy.
'It worked! Although I knew I should be able to transport Pokemon from that world and into this, having solid evidence really puts my mind at ease.'
Dante opened the menu and sure enough, he saw Pikachu's name in the team option.
'Pikachu should have become a permanent part of the team after we officially confirmed being an Exploration Team. In this case, I can probably take other Pokemons as long as they become part of the team.'
Dante felt a little giddy thinking about this.
To know, there are many Pokemons that are considered 'rare' in this world which can easily be found as long as you're in the right dungeon in the PMD world.
However, thinking of the fact that he can make even a Pokemon like Bidoof surpass Arceus in terms of overall stats, Dante's excitement cooled down.
'Forget it, I'll just choose the Pokemons that best fit my aesthetics. It would be even more satisfying to beat a Champion's team composed of Quasi-Legendary Pokemons with something like Caterpie.'
That night, Dante dreamt of standing in the World Championship stage. Facing the booing from the crowd, he defeated Lance's Dragonite, Cynthia's Garchomp, and Steven's Shiny Metagross with just one attack from Pikachu.
—
The next morning, Dante was awoken to the sound of barking, a sharp cry, and then a whimper.
Opening his eyes, he saw Luna sitting in the corner of the room, whimpering while aggressively looking at Pikachu. Pikachu on the side had some bite marks on his side, also looking aggressively at Herdier.
Seeing that Pikachu was about to attack, Dante hurriedly stopped him.
"Pikachu! Calm down! This is our family's Pokemon!"
Hearing this, Pikachu stopped the Thunder Shock that he was gathering and instead cried aggrievedly.
"Pika, pika, pikaa!" (She just attacked me while I was sleeping!)
"Woof! Woof!" (Sh-shut up! Who told you to sneakily enter the house!)
Hearing their arguing, Dante had a headache. This was NOT what he had in mind the morning he got his Starter Pokemon.
"Calm down! Both of you, this was my fault. Sorry Pikachu, I forgot about Luna in our family. And sorry Luna, it was I who let Pikachu in. How about I treat you guys to a meal in order to make up for it? Don't fight anymore, ok?"
Hearing Dante's apology, Pikachu didn't intend to blame him while Luna barked twice in agreement. The both of them also apologized to each other and things finally calmed down.
When Dante came out of the room with Pikachu on his shoulders and Luna following behind, they met Mrs. Zulueta who just also walked out of their room.
"Dan? What happene- oh! Is this the Pikachu you were talking about?"
"Pika!" (Nice to meet you, Dante's mom!)
Seeing Pikachu shyly smiling and waving at her from Dante's shoulder, Mrs. Zulueta let out a laugh.
"He's such a little cutie! Here, let momma hold you!"
Pikachu suddenly found himself stuck between two deep ravines. He let out a giggle after Mrs. Zulueta began patting him on the head.
Looking at Pikachu's funny face, Dante chuckled inwardly.
Coming down to the first floor, Dante gave Luna breakfast as well as the promised treats. Mrs. Zulueta reluctantly let Pikachu go in order to prepare breakfast.
"We don't have any food for Pikachu yet, why don't you head out to the mall now, Dan? You can grab breakfast with Pikachu on the way."
Hearing his mother's suggestion, Dante thought for a while and agreed.
Although Dante planned to use Apples from the PMD world as the future food for his Pokemons, it'll take a while before he can stockpile enough of them. And he planned to save the Gummies that he will get from now on and wait to use them when Spinda's Cafe was opened.
Using Gummies just to raise IQ is a bit of a waste. Only by using it through Spinda's Cafe will each Gummi give at least 1 random stat to the Pokemon in addition to gaining IQ.
Dante also planned to look around the mall to see whether he can find any items which can make journeying through the Dungeons more efficient. Before going back, he also had to register Pikachu in the Pokemon Center as his starter Pokemon.