A world of Pokémon

His name was Xiao Ran, a graduating Senior Year student at Nancheng No. 2 High School. Today was the day countless students could change their destinies—the national college entrance exam.

Several teachers patrolling the exam room had already glanced at him a few times. Students who dared waste time during the college entrance exam were rare. Anyone who did was either brimming with confidence or... brimming with confidence.

Confident they would do just fine, or confident they had absolutely no chance of getting in.

But the thoroughly filled-out exam paper on his desk clearly ruled out the latter. Besides, this student was far too composed, far too beautiful.

Yes, beautiful. The word was not remotely out of place on a boy like him. His delicate features, fair, dewy skin, and rosy lips made him so beautiful that even girls felt ashamed of their own looks.

"You have half an hour left before you hand in your paper. Make sure you check your answers," a young female teacher reminded him, unable to resist walking over. She wanted to get to know such a handsome boy, too. Her gaze happened to sweep across his paper, and she committed that unforgettable name to memory.

"All right. Thank you, ma'am!" The boy seemed to come back to his senses and gave her a faint smile. His warm, gentle voice made the teacher feel as though she might get pregnant... if ears could get pregnant, that is.

"Y-you're welcome!" the teacher replied with a shy smile. A blush had spread across both cheeks, and she all but fled back to the front of the classroom. It took her a while to calm her fluttering heart.

"What? Fallen for him?" another female teacher who was fairly close to her teased quietly. There was more than one invigilator overseeing the college entrance exam, after all.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? But he really is so beautiful, and his voice is so lovely!" the teacher said with a hint of excitement, unable to stop herself from looking at the boy again.

"Hehe, of course. He's the best-looking boy at Nancheng No. 2 High School. Never mind the girls chasing him—I hear quite a few boys are after him, too."

"Whoa... that's ridiculous!" At that last remark, the teacher shuddered, as though she could already picture him pinned beneath some hulking man. Tsk, tsk. What a sight—too much to bear looking at!

"It really isn't. A boy that beautiful? If I were a man, I'd want to turn gay for him. Too bad I'm too old. If only I'd been born a few years later!"

"Hehehe, if you want him, you'd better hurry. Once he gets into Pokémon University, you won't have a chance!" the teacher said with a laugh, only to earn a disdainful look from her colleague.

"We never had a chance in the first place. He awakened a special ability at birth. His admission to Pokémon University is guaranteed. This exam is just a formality. Whether he even shows up depends on his mood."

"Wow... some people have all the luck!"

Ignoring the teachers' whispers, Xiao Ran returned to his senses, only for his gaze to be drawn once more to the Magnemite floating in the corner. His thoughts, however, had already drifted far away.

The red moon of 2018 had brought him straight from Earth to this place. He was still on Earth, still in the China he remembered, but the entire world had undergone a staggering transformation. The histories of the two worlds had diverged drastically a thousand years ago.

No one knew why, nor did anyone know where they had come from. All anyone knew was that a thousand years ago, all kinds of spatial rifts had begun appearing around the world. From those rifts emerged all sorts of Pokémon, though people back then generally called them strange beasts or magical beasts.

The arrival of Pokémon had plunged the entire world into disaster. How could humans, still in the age of swords and spears, possibly stand against them? Faced with Pokémon wielding tremendous power, humanity had no means of resistance. Death swept across the planet, countless species were wiped out, and humans themselves came close to extinction.

Yet throughout those wars, humans continued to discover and interact with Pokémon. Not all Pokémon were hostile toward them; some even enjoyed human company. Beast tamers skilled at training animals began approaching and taming them, becoming the earliest predecessors of Pokémon Trainers.

Through continued taming and battle, humans gradually discovered the immense power and limitless potential within these Pokémon. Even the weakest Caterpie could develop extraordinary strength through ongoing evolution and training. Only then did humanity's fortunes finally begin to turn.

They tamed weak Pokémon, then used them to defeat, tame, and capture stronger ones, before using those stronger Pokémon to capture even more powerful ones... After centuries of development, humanity finally gained a foothold and reclaimed a place on this land.

Even so, they had merely secured their survival. Truly establishing themselves and developing at a rapid pace only began with the discovery of Poké Balls several centuries ago. By drawing Pokémon unable to resist into these balls, then steadily raising and taming them into weapons of their own, humans were finally able to wage an all-out war against Pokémon.

That war lasted well over a century. Only two hundred years ago, after paying an enormous price, did humans gradually reclaim the lands they needed to survive. At last, Earth settled down after nearly a thousand years of turmoil, and human society entered its first period of rapid development.

What followed, however, was a flaw humanity had failed to eradicate for countless millennia: greed. After only a few decades of peace, the nations wielding these mighty powers began to stir.

The Pokémon Forest was difficult to conquer, but other human nations were not much stronger than they were. Seeking more resources and greater power for their own countries, they sparked the First World War. Many weaker nations were caught unprepared and destroyed. The powerful nations that had tasted the spoils became unstoppable, and the Second World War soon followed...

The Industrial Revolution and the world wars—in that respect, this world was remarkably similar to the Earth Xiao Ran had once lived on. China, with its vast territory and abundant resources, had likewise become a target of invasion and fought a protracted war against Japan. Only when China's oldest Dragon Tamer Family emerged did they finally drive back all their powerful enemies.

This war embroiled the entire planet. It involved not only the major nations; humanity's nuclear weapons even drew out Pokémon that had existed only in legend. Only then did humans learn that some Pokémon possessed enough power to destroy the entire planet. Nuclear weapons could not harm such Pokémon in the slightest and would instead hasten the destruction of the world. Ultimately, faced with these powerful Pokémon and the threat of Earth's destruction, humanity had no choice but to compromise, and an armistice was signed.

Ordinary people had no access to its specific terms, but from then on, humanity was forbidden from deploying nuclear weapons. The century-long war came to an end, followed by the founding of the Pokémon League and the widespread adoption of Poké Balls. Human society once again entered an era of rapid development.

If I hadn't gone to see that red lunar eclipse, maybe I never would have ended up here, Xiao Ran thought. It had supposedly been a once-in-a-millennium eclipse, but after watching it, he had lost consciousness. When he woke again, he had become a newborn baby cradled in his mother's arms.

His name, Xiao Ran, was exactly the same as in his previous life. Perhaps there was some unseen law governing transmigration. Still, arriving in a world filled with Pokémon might not have been such a bad outcome for him. After all, he had been a Pokémon fan in his previous life.

At that thought, Xiao Ran's lips curved slightly as he watched the floating Magnemite. His faint smile left the teachers and female students quietly watching him starry-eyed. He had to admit that his looks in this life really were beautiful, and that was his greatest source of distress.

Of course, he had never imagined that someone as ordinary-looking as he had been in his previous life would one day find beauty a burden. The power of the Red Moon had strengthened more than his body; it had even changed his appearance. Xiao Ran sometimes wondered whether he might suddenly turn into a girl one day. Feeling the little fellow between his legs, he let out a small sigh of relief. Good! Still there!

Pokémon wielded unfathomable powers. They could breathe fire, summon the seas, soar through the sky, split mountains and shatter stone... According to researchers, in the terms of Western fantasy, these might be considered elemental powers. Of course, China had its own names for them, such as Spirit Power.

Prolonged contact also caused certain mutations in human bodies. The most widespread effect was that humans on this Earth generally lived a third longer than those on the Earth of Xiao Ran's previous life. Pokémon were foreign species, after all. As they integrated into this world, they were also subtly changing it.

More immediately apparent than longer lifespans was Awakening. After living for years in a world saturated with Pokémon elements, some people underwent Awakening and gained a mysterious power. Psychic abilities and Aura, for instance, as mentioned in the anime from his previous life, were among the powers that could Awaken. Of course, in this real world, the powers awakened came in an even wider variety of types.

The Power of the Moon that Xiao Ran possessed had awakened in just this way. In fact, he had awakened it on the very day he was born. Calling him blessed by heaven would have been no exaggeration.

The Power of the Moon was one of the more advanced powers within the known system of Awakening abilities. Its properties included mystery, healing, and soothing, which meant Xiao Ran could easily grow into a Pokémon master specializing in healing.

Still, Xiao Ran had always felt that its most absurd property was its ability to provide free, painless cosmetic surgery with a zero-percent failure rate. Although his mother was quite beautiful herself and had likewise awakened the Power of Life, by the time he turned sixteen, she had been forced to admit that the pupil had surpassed the master.

Love letters from boys, my ass. Those bastards were behind all of them! Xiao Ran grumbled inwardly, glancing at the two teachers whispering at the front of the classroom.

At the same time, the bell finally rang to signal the end of the exam. Xiao Ran let out a soft breath. This final exam on Pokémon history had been unbearably dull, but at least it was finally over.