Prehistoric Pokémon

Kaelan had just woken up from his dreams, sitting up and stretching as he prepared to go to work.

To his surprise, he found himself greeted by blue skies, white clouds, and towering trees.

"Where am I?"

He sat up and looked around, discovering that he was in a jungle.

"Hmm? Who played a prank and brought me here?"

He was about to stand when, in the next moment, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head, and his body collapsed straight back down.

Before losing consciousness, he caught a glimpse of several nimble figures leaping through the trees toward him.

With his last bit of strength, he cried out for help, his voice barely audible:

"Help—!"

...

In a daze, Kaelan had something roughly poured into his mouth.

It was salty and bitter.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a dark, cramped space.

"What... where is this...?"

"You're awake, Kaelan."

Kaelan then noticed a small, thin boy next to him, dressed in a grass skirt and holding a dirty stone bowl with some remnants of medicinal sludge inside.

The child looked very thin, with a messy tuft of hair, his upper body bare, while his lower body was clad in a grass skirt that barely covered anything.

The boy pointed at the back of Kaelan's head: "Kaelan, even if you're upset with the chief, you need to be careful! Climbing trees and falling to hit your head can be very dangerous. Thankfully, the chief and the others found you, or else…"

"What the heck? How do you know my name? And what did you just make me drink?!"

Kaelan stared at the boy, feeling a mix of confusion and panic.

But in the next moment, everything went dark again, and a flood of memories surged into his mind.

Kaelan fainted once more.

When he woke up again, it was daytime. Though the cave was still dark, at least he could see.

Kaelan wore a frown as he let the small boy, Torak, feed him some medicinal herbs.

During his last moment of unconsciousness, a flood of information filled his mind.

It was from a child named "Kaelan," the original owner of this body.

Kaelan was from the Green Worm tribe.

He inherited the memories of this "Kaelan," from birth to babbling, and through ten years of childhood mischief!

In simple terms, he had crossed over.

This original "Kaelan" ran away after a fight with the chief, fell, and died, which allowed this "Kaelan" to take over this fresh "body."

Fortunately, it seemed everyone here spoke English as well, so communication wasn't an issue.

Yeah, the entire universe spoke English.

"But... if you're going to cross over, at least let me cross over to modern society! What on earth is 'prehistoric'!!"

Still, Kaelan felt like crying without tears.

"What are you saying, Kaelan? Are you feeling unwell?" Torak asked with concern after giving him the medicine.

"No, I'm fine now. Torak, you can go out for a while."

Kaelan wanted some time alone to think.

"Don't be mad at the chief. He can't help it..." Torak seemed a bit worried.

"Alright, alright, I'm not mad. I've come to terms with it, and I'm a bit hungry now."

Whether he truly came to terms with it was unclear, but Kaelan felt he had.

"Then I'll go get some food..." Seeing Kaelan appear more normal, Torak dashed out of the small cave.

As Kaelan watched Torak happily run outside, he couldn't help but sigh.

In this world, food was hard to come by...

This was indeed a prehistoric era, but not just any ordinary prehistoric era.

This was the prehistoric era of Pokémon!

"Oh my god… Did you really have to play this joke on me? I was just saying that casually..."

Kaelan helplessly tugged at his messy hair. He had once thought he would give anything for the chance to enter the Pokémon world.

But here...

The prehistoric era of pocket monsters.

The prehistoric era of Pokémon.

The prehistoric era of Pokémon creatures.

...

This is the Prehistoric Pokémon era! What he wanted was to be in modern times, for goodness' sake!

He was just a weak modern person.

Just look at this place!

Thunderbolts and Hyper Beams flying around—how is anyone supposed to survive here?

He wasn't some super newbie!

In this place, people could die!

"While I wanted to experience it before, now I just want to go back! For crying out loud! No, I mean, creator, send me back!"

"Well, it seems like the creator doesn't care about Earth, and Darwin surely doesn't care about Pokémon either."

"Gurgle, gurgle~"

After letting out a few random sounds, he realized his stomach was a bit hungry, so he stopped his complaints.

The pressing concern wasn't to moan and groan; survival was the most important thing!

This was the prehistoric era of Pokémon, full of dangers.

The main dangers were twofold:

One was food, and the other was also food!

Food is paramount!

In his past life, many people wondered what Pokémon eat. What do humans eat?

Surely, not everyone is a vegetarian!

And then the researchers figured it out...

Pokémon eat Pokémon! Humans eat Pokémon!

Of course, Pokémon can also eat humans!

For example, Farfetch'd was almost hunted to extinction because its meat was delicious.

A self-sustaining ingredient—ever heard of Roast Turkey?

And there's a rumor that Slowpoke's tail is quite tasty...

So, Pokémon are edible!

Just like how Pidgey evolves into Pidgeotto and then Pidgeot, which all love to eat Caterpie, Pokémon also prey on each other.

Some Pokémon even hunt humans, like the notorious Aerodactyl.

This is the dual threat—

Finding food and avoiding being eaten!

When Kaelan learned about the cruel reality of this world, he nearly choked.

It hurt! Buneary... No, why would anyone eat such a cute Pokémon?

And besides... humans are cute too. Why would Pokémon eat humans?

Fortunately, Kaelan also discovered that at least there were no powerful predators like Aerodactyl around the "Green Worm tribe."

But there were "man-eating flowers."

Here, people referred to Pokémon as "monsters," and Kaelan guessed this was the prehistoric terminology.

For example, the Green Worm should be Caterpie, the White Butterfly should be Butterfree, and the man-eating flower must be Victreebel.

"Oh my god, Victreebel really eats people. I'm not James…"

Kaelan couldn't shake the image of himself being swallowed by a Victreebel.

Thankfully, the memories of "Kaelan" informed him that there was a powerful "White Butterfly Grandpa," whose territory stretched for miles around this mountain.

This meant that only the Green Worm tribe and Caterpie population lived within these few miles, and no other ordinary Pokémon would enter the area.

So under normal circumstances, they wouldn't be attacked.

However, White Butterfly Grandpa was very old, and this safety wouldn't last long.

"Kaelan!"

Just then, Torak returned, holding a large leaf with a chunk of roasted meat on it.

Mysterious roasted meat.

This... this is Rattata meat!

The thought that such a cute Rattata could...

No, this is too sinful; I can't eat that!

Kaelan turned his head away, unwilling to look at Torak or the meat in his hands.

"Kaelan, come on, eat it! Rattata meat!" Torak knelt down, bringing the meat closer to Kaelan's mouth.

A delicious aroma wafted through the air. Kaelan shot a disdainful glance at the roasted meat.

But his nose twitched: "Wow, it actually smells pretty good…" 

...

"Now that's delicious!"

After eating a piece of meat, Kaelan felt his strength returning significantly.

Torak had already gone out, saying he was off to gather some kind of fruit.

Meanwhile, the chief and the hunting team had long since set out to hunt.

Kaelan decided to take a look outside.

The cave was small and cramped, barely accommodating the dry grass on the ground, serving as his and Torak's shared living space.

Both he and Torak were orphans.

The tribe produced many orphans.

Because, apart from Victreebel, there were many other Pokémon that would eat humans.

Victreebel formed a large group to the east, while some loners, like a very powerful Arbok to the south of the tribe, also had a taste for human flesh.

Additionally, there was no peace between tribes.

Kaelan had no idea why the "Green Worm tribe" and the "Yellow Worm tribe" were inexplicable, age-old enemies.

He guessed that the Yellow Worm referred to Weedle.

So, in such a dire environment, it was normal for able-bodied men and women to easily perish in the jungle, making the tribe's high number of orphans unsurprising.

He pushed himself up with his slender body, moved a bit, and then slowly made his way out of the cave.

The Green Worm tribe was built on a small hill, which had eight or nine stone houses and many man-made caves. The hill was covered in colorful flowers with scattered trees.

On the hill, only four or five men armed with stone clubs were left to guard. Each wore a grass skirt, had dark, muscular bodies, and messy hair.

Each of them had a Butterfree perched on their shoulder.

Here, it wasn't just the people that suffered losses; Pokémon endured high losses as well. In summer, several Flying-type Pokémon would frequently come to prey on the tribe's Caterpie and Butterfree, while Metapod were rarely targeted.

As a result, Butterfree were prioritized for the hunting team. Even if you raised an exceptional Butterfree, if you didn't meet the standards to join the hunting team, you'd still have to give your Butterfree to others.

At the same time, women here had no privileges either; they had to follow the hunting team to gather berries or collect clean water sources.

Of course, prehistoric tribal women were also quite strong.

Only the elderly, weak, and sick could stay behind to do the menial tasks.

"Kaelan, you're awake!"

A warrior was scanning the hill from not far away from the cave and greeted Kaelan when he saw him emerge.

This was Korrin.

The toughest man in the Green Worm tribe.

Of course, what was tough was not the man himself, but his shimmering Butterfree's predecessor, Metapod.

Kaelan didn't know Korrin's original name, but ever since Korrin's Metapod became the toughest Metapod in the tribe, his name changed to Korrin.

The chief had to go out hunting, while the second strongest in the tribe, Korrin, had to stay behind to protect the elderly, weak, and sick.

This second strongest warrior had a pink Butterfree perched on his head.

A tough guy with a pink Butterfree.

Wow, that was beautiful.

"Uncle Korrin!" Kaelan greeted, "Has the chief gone out to hunt?"

"Yes!" Korrin smiled. "Don't be mad at him! Our Green Worm tribe obviously needs its own Green Worm!"

Korrin was referring to the conflict between Kaelan and the chief.

Previously, "Kaelan" thought Caterpie was too weak and wanted other Pokémon, especially the yellow bird, known as Pidgeotto.

When the chief found out, he was furious and lectured Kaelan, which made Kaelan feel wronged and "run away from home."

In this era, there were no Poké Balls, no Pokémon Centers, no Pokédex, and no various items…

Raising a Pokémon was incredibly difficult!

In the tribe, after a long time raising a certain kind of Pokémon, they had a complete tradition.

For example, Caterpie, Metapod, and Butterfree—what to do at each stage and how to raise them were areas where the Green Worm tribe had much experience.

Additionally, the close relationship between the Green Worm tribe and the Caterpie population made training them easier.

Of course, Kaelan also wondered how to learn many moves here, since the memories of "Kaelan" told him that most moves were understood by Pokémon themselves.

Unlike in the games, where you just place a Technical Machine on a Pokémon's head and they can learn.

The Green Worm tribe had raised Caterpie for generations, so they naturally were more familiar with the application of certain moves.

Choosing to raise other unfamiliar Pokémon could easily lead to wasting a lot of time training weak Pokémon.

Here, wasting time was equivalent to wasting life.

The lives of yourself and your tribe members.

That's why the chief was so angry when he lectured Kaelan.

After all, Kaelan was the chief's nephew.

"But…"

Kaelan's eyes lit up: "I'm really good at raising Pokémon, you know?"

Did he watch Ash Ketchum for seven or eight hundred episodes for nothing?

From Red, Blue, Green, Black, and White all the way to Sword and Shield—he played them all!

Come on, just give me an electric-type Pokémon, and I could raise it to be amazing!

Though it seemed there was no concept of levels here.

In any case, raising Caterpie meant constantly eating leaves, raising Metapod also involved continuous eating, and raising Butterfree still required a lot of eating.

Eat, and you can become stronger!

Of course, Kaelan maintained a reserved attitude toward the Green Worm tribe's philosophy.

And...

"Ugh, what a waste. Why eat so many berries? Also, why add cat-shaped fruits to the medicinal herbs? Is that supposed to increase my beauty? No wonder it's so bitter."

Kaelan thought back to the medicinal herbs that Torak had made him drink.

However, after the complaints, he had some plans forming in his mind.

But here, let alone a Master Ball, he didn't even know where to find materials for making Poké Balls. With the environment being so dangerous, he needed to get his first Pokémon as soon as possible.

At just ten years old, he was already able to have a Pokémon!

...

"Uncle Korrin, I want to have my own… Green Worm." Kaelan nearly blurted out "Caterpie."

No, he had to make sure to change the Pokémon's name; calling it Green Worm or Yellow Worm was just awful!

"Oh? You've made up your mind?" Korrin's eyes brightened.

He greeted the other warriors who were guarding nearby, then jumped over to Kaelan with ease.

A pink Butterfree rested on Korrin's head.

The only shining one in the entire tribe!

But Kaelan didn't look at Butterfree; instead, he focused intently on Korrin.

Watching Korrin's athletic figure, he leaped more than ten meters in a single bound, and Kaelan froze.

He suddenly realized…

Perhaps he really could be a super newbie!