It had taken an eternity to walk towards the house, no mansion.
The mansion was hidden within a translucent mist that gave way as soon as he had come near it.
It was vast, sprawling, built from a warm, reddish stone that seemed to glow softly in the unearthly light. The entrance was a colossal archway, impossibly tall, with heavy wooden doors that were dark as night, yet gleamed with brass inlays that seemed to shift and writhe.
He could make out carvings in them.
One was a quadruplet Pokémon with stripes and a blank underside. It has a thin tail with sharp angles and a spark-shaped formation at the end. Most of its face is made of thick fur, with shorter fur around its eyes. Its muzzle has an "X", and it has a faceplate with bumps that cover its forehead, nose, and ears. It has two long fangs. Its large claws each converge to form a single point. Extra fur hangs off its body in front of its thighs. It has a mane across its back that resembles rain clouds.
The other one is a massive, leonine, quadrupedal Pokémon with some mastiff qualities. It is covered in fur, and a long cloud runs along its entire back. It has plates on either side of the cloud and a plate beneath the belly fur on its chest. It has paws with pads and cuff-like bands on its legs. Its main faceplate is shaped like fins or a six-sided star. A plate, resembling a horseshoe mustache, covers its muzzle. It also has a crest with three sloped points on its forehead.
He also saw the delicate flowers blooming in stone.
It was a small, bipedal Pokémon. It has three thorns on top of its head, and it has eyes with long eyelashes. Visible from the back is a small stretch around its neck, much like a collar. Leaves are extending from its shoulders like epaulettes. It has a leaf skirt with a stripe running down the front. It holds a rose in each of its hands.
The doors had brass Arcanine heads as handles with knockers on them. He took one and knocked.
THUD...THUD...
After some time, the doors opened into the mansion with an ancient creak to reveal a dark passageway.
After calming down his heart, he went inside. On the walls, candles with blue flames lit up with his approach of steps.
Space and time seemed to bend.
A central courtyard beckoned, bathed in an impossibly serene light that wasn't from the sky above, but seemed to emanate from within the space itself. There was a large, still pool, reflecting the mist-shrouded sky. And then, a ripple, and a flash of green- a small, blue plant Pokémon with six stubby legs. It has large eyes and a wide, yellow mouth similar to a bill, and a large leaf that resembles a lily pad covers its back.
The Pokémon was floating as if on air, and beneath the surface, there was a faint wiggle of a Poliwag. The air was heavy with the scent of jasmine, cloying and sweet, mixed with something else, a faint, earthy Gaian aroma.
Every window, every balcony, was adorned with intricate screens of carved stone. They were like lace, casting dancing shadows that looked like symbols and letters, drifting and reforming with every breath of the unseen breeze. Above, on the rooftops, were graceful domes and little pavilions, possibly for flying Pokémon.
Inside, the silence was profound. The rooms stretched on, cool and vast, with ceilings that soared. Walls and corridors were lit by blue-flamed lamp-like Pokémon.
The furniture was dark, polished wood, but on closer inspection, patterns of Poké Balls were subtly inlaid, catching the faint light.
Drapes of heavy silk, dyed in hues he had never encountered, hung motionless.
On the walls, vibrant frescoes whispered tales he couldn't quite grasp, of battles and bonds, of Pokémon he felt he should know but couldn't name.
He felt his legs take him in a direction that just felt right in calling him.
A change in destiny, fate, and maybe something more...
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Ash looked around and found that he could not go in any of the rooms as if there was an ethereal force given physical form did not allow him to enter. All he saw that they were filled with bookshelves filled to the brim.
He was able to enter one of the rooms.
The room looked like it was the living room of the mansion. There were chandeliers like the ones he had seen in dramas of rich and expensive houses glowing with the same ethereal flames.
Near the warm and welcoming presence of the fireplace, there was a seat upon which he saw a person resting. The room also had bookshelves. In one side of the room, hanging from the wall, was a really big TV screen that was connected to a contraption that looked like had a mic and some soft looking ovaloid shapes made of sponge?
Unable to hold his curiosity, he opened his mouth to speak to the only other inhabitant in this land.
"Hello...?"
The person seemed to come awake and turned their chair towards him.
It turned out there was no chair with backrest, but a turtle shell?
The hell...
When the person turned to him, Ash saw that the shell was strapped to an old man. He had a ponytail, a thick beard, and stretched earlobes with two piercings in both ears.
For some reason, against all odds, Ash felt that such a combination should not happen.
"Hello young Ash Ketchum."
"How do you know my name?!!"
The old man bent his neck to one side and asked, "Why should I not know the name of the person whose mind inside of I am?"
"What..."
"We are inside your mind or soul scape," said the man rolling his eyes.
"Who are you?..." asked Ash in scared voice.
He heard the old man mumble something incomprehensible about Roshi, Netero?
"So, your name is Roshi Netero, right?"
For some reason, Ash saw the old man's eyes filled with pain as if remembering something.
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[Redacted] had just woken up from the pain of being transmigrated.
The pain had made him go unconscious.
Can souls even become unconscious?
He had expected to be in control of some poor soul's body or have a body of his own.
Really, he did.
He did not expect to have become a secondary soul residing within a boy that had no control of the body whatsoever.
Good.
Stealing someone's body to live and sacrificing the original's as if they were livestock was undesirable by him.
It also felt wrong.
He found himself in some mansion of some kind, where all of his memories and knowledge were stored in the form of books divided into different rooms depending upon the topic.
He finally looked at a mirror.
Expecting to find his previous face, he was surprised upon seeing the face of Isaac Netero. Was that Roshi's turtle shell on his back?!
Who could have done it?...
He felt his eye twitching and realized, "Truth...."
He decided he did not want to think about it and returned to the fireplace to rest.
He also saw there was a smart television screen. His one. Mounted on a wall. With a headset.
He went to the TV and turned it on and saw...
Was that Delia Ketchum?
Then whose body he was in...
Shit. Ash Ketchum.
The Legendary Trouble Magnet.
The Chosen One.
He was in one hell of a ride for the future now was it.
He went, sat, and stared into the fireplace as if it could provide him answers with a blank face.
Okay...
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
Breathe in...
Breathe out...
He can do nothing about it for the time being. So, let's start thinking about something that would be able to help Ash at all.
It wasn't as if this was Ash's mindscape/dreamscape/soulscape, right?
"Hello...?"
He came out of his stupor and started to turn back as if hesitating to find out if his mind was playing tricks on him.
There.
Standing in front of him dressed in his Kanto attire without the hat was Ash Ketchum looking at him.
Using all of his experience in high-speed decision-making during games, he came to a conclusion.
Use this to help him train to survive the world and train his Pokémon for the events that would have global consequences.
Hey, nothing can be done without taking a leap of faith, right?
At least it will stave off the boredom.
"Hello young Ash Ketchum."
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AN: Please give reviews and comments. Specify the specific issues if you have any. Constructive criticism is encouraged. This not only helps me becoming a better writer but also increases the valuable experience you all have in reading.
Rest of the conversation will be covered in the next chapter.
Should I have reduced the descriptive side much or is it alright?