"Smeargle, do you want to become the world's greatest manga artist?"
In his rented apartment, Shiraishi Ritsu held Smeargle by both shoulders, his eyes startlingly bright.
"Smear?"
Smeargle tilted his head, clearly not understanding what a manga artist was.
Still, he did understand that his trainer wanted him to keep drawing.
That was his favorite thing to do!
So Smeargle nodded excitedly, his tail wagging furiously.
"Good! That's the spirit!"
Shiraishi Ritsu slapped the table and declared with boundless confidence, "Starting today, we're the strongest team in manga! I'll handle the stories, and you'll handle the art. Once we make a fortune, we'll feast like kings every day!"
"Smear!"
At the mention of food, Smeargle immediately perked up.
Shiraishi Ritsu wasted no time, fetching a stack of blank paper to test his partner's drawing skills.
That illustration of Luffy had certainly been stunning, but there was a big difference between a single character illustration and an actual manga.
Manga needed paneling, backgrounds, character movements, and a sequence of images that told a clear story.
Could Smeargle really manage all that?
"Come on, let's start with something simple."
Shiraishi Ritsu picked up a pencil and sketched a few crooked boxes on the paper.
"First panel: a boy wearing a straw hat stands at the bow of a ship, with the sea breeze blowing toward him. Second panel: he spots an island in the distance and suddenly gets excited. Third panel: he stretches out his arm, points at the island, and shouts."
Smeargle listened attentively, nodding from time to time.
Shiraishi Ritsu added a few more details about the character's expressions and movements, then pushed the rough sketch over.
"Want to give it a try?"
"Smear!"
Smeargle picked up a paintbrush, gently swished his tail, and began drawing rapidly on the paper.
A little over ten minutes later, Shiraishi Ritsu looked at the three-panel manga before him and was completely won over.
The boy stood at the bow facing the wind, the distant sea glittering behind him. Even the folds in his windblown clothes looked perfectly natural.
In the second panel, the boy's delighted surprise at discovering the island was especially lifelike.
As for the third panel...
"Wait, how did you even draw the Gum-Gum Fruit's power?"
Shiraishi Ritsu pointed at the image in surprise.
He had only said to stretch out an arm, yet Smeargle had portrayed the movement of the entire arm elongating just right.
"Smear!"
Smeargle proudly puffed out his chest.
Unconvinced, Shiraishi Ritsu gave him several more prompts in a row.
A ninja leaping through the woods, a boy drawing his sword into the wind atop a cliff, and two characters chasing each other through the streets.
No matter what he requested, Smeargle managed to draw it convincingly.
Whenever he encountered a scene he did not understand, he would even stop drawing on his own and have Shiraishi Ritsu explain further.
The two spent the entire afternoon at it.
By the time the setting sun shone through the window, the table was piled high with manga drafts.
Shiraishi Ritsu picked one up, growing more satisfied the longer he looked.
"Man, I've really found a treasure!"
He had always thought Smeargle's greatest strength was learning other Pokémon's moves through Sketch.
Now, it seemed that what this fellow truly excelled at lay on the drawing paper.
Over the next few days, Shiraishi Ritsu became completely absorbed in creating manga.
To test Smeargle's abilities, he even made a special trip to a bookstore and bought several manga magazines to study this world's paneling and page layouts.
Gradually, the two developed a well-coordinated way of working together.
Shiraishi Ritsu handled the plot, character designs, dialogue, and paneling, while Smeargle handled the art.
Sometimes, he only needed to draw a few simple figures on the paper and clearly explain the scene and the characters' emotions for Smeargle to understand immediately.
Of course, when it came to things Smeargle had never seen, Shiraishi Ritsu still had to explain patiently.
These included ninja forehead protectors, the structure of pirate ships, and strange powers that did not exist in the real world.
Once, to help Smeargle understand what ninjutsu was, Shiraishi Ritsu spent a full half hour waving his arms and legs around in the apartment.
In the end, Smeargle did understand.
It was just that the way he looked at his trainer had become a little strange.
Shiraishi Ritsu suspected he might think there was something wrong with his head.
Still, these minor troubles did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm.
A few days later, looking at the dozens of completed manga pages on the table, Shiraishi Ritsu finally made up his mind.
His dream of becoming a Trainer could wait for now.
With such a good opportunity right before him, he had to give it a try!
So, a week later, Shiraishi Ritsu took a document envelope full of original manga pages and brought Smeargle to a publishing house in Celadon City.
The publisher put out a manga magazine called Shonen Adventure, which was fairly well known in the Kanto region.
The person who received him was a young editor named Kikkawa Maho.
"Masuda Senbei?"
Looking at the pen name on his submission form, Kikkawa Maho could not help smiling.
"That's an interesting name."
"You're too kind, you're too kind."
Shiraishi Ritsu shamelessly accepted the compliment, then handed over his manga manuscript.
The title was written prominently in large characters.
"Naruto"!
Shiraishi Ritsu had complete confidence in this manga, which had taken the world by storm in his previous life.
Reality, however, soon threw cold water on him.
"The art is excellent."
That was the first thing Kikkawa Maho said after reading the manuscript.
Shiraishi Ritsu immediately perked up.
There's a chance!
But she followed it up with, "Still, why do ninjas breathe fire from their mouths? And what exactly is this chakra?"
"Uh... you can think of it as a special kind of energy."
"Then why don't they use Pokémon to battle?"
"Because this is a ninja world."
"A ninja world?"
Kikkawa Maho looked puzzled.
It took Shiraishi Ritsu nearly half an hour to just barely explain the relationship between chakra, ninjutsu, and ninja villages.
In the end, Kikkawa Maho agreed to give the work a trial run as a newcomer one-shot.
Unfortunately, the trial results were less than ideal.
Although some readers were very interested in the novel ninja setting, even more were left utterly confused.
Unwilling to give up, Shiraishi Ritsu brought out another work.
"One Piece"!
Surely there won't be any problems this time?
Instead, Kikkawa Maho asked another question that left him unsure whether to laugh or cry.
"Why does this Luffy's body stretch like rubber after he eats a piece of fruit?"
"Because it's a Devil Fruit."
"And what's a Devil Fruit?"
"It's a kind of fruit that gives you special powers when you eat it."
"Then why not just catch a Pokémon that can stretch its body?"
Shiraishi Ritsu: "..."
That makes so much sense!
He actually had no idea how to argue against it.
Over the following months, Shiraishi Ritsu tried one genre after another.
Smeargle's art earned unanimous praise from the editorial department, but reader responses to the works remained lukewarm.
Ninjas, Devil Fruits, pirate adventures-these things were ultimately a little unfamiliar to readers in the Pokémon world.
Combined with a new author's lack of an established readership, this meant that even after several trial runs, no serialization plan was finalized.
Of course, it was not as though nobody liked the works at all.
Naruto had even gained a few loyal readers.
But that little bit of popularity fell far short of Shiraishi Ritsu's dream of becoming a great manga artist.
His manuscript fees were pitifully small, while his savings kept dwindling.
Worse still, Smeargle had recently become obsessed with an expensive brand of imported paint.
Looking at his account book, Shiraishi Ritsu tugged at his hair in distress.
"Partner, if this keeps up, we'll both be living on air."
"Smear..."
Clutching his paint box, Smeargle lowered his head pitifully.
At the sight, Shiraishi Ritsu softened again.
"All right, I'm not blaming you."
He reached out and rubbed Smeargle's head.
"The art is so good. Why isn't anyone reading it?"
The question troubled him for several days.
Until one weekend.
Shiraishi Ritsu visited a bookstore in Celadon City, planning to see what manga genres were popular lately.
Just as he reached the manga section, he heard several children nearby huddled together, arguing.
"I think Charizard is the strongest! He can breathe fire!"
"Nonsense! Blastoise is stronger! Water-types beat Fire-types!"
"What about Pikachu? Pikachu is really strong too!"
"Pikachu is an Electric-type, so he's great against Blastoise too!"
The children grew more and more worked up, and one boy wearing a cap even declared that once he turned ten, he would definitely become a Pokémon Master.
At first, Shiraishi Ritsu was only listening casually.
But as he listened, he suddenly froze.
Charizard.
Blastoise.
Pikachu.
Pokémon...
Wait!
He slapped his forehead.
How could I have forgotten the most important thing?!
This is the Pokémon world!
Since people in this world grow up around Pokémon, why not just draw a Pokémon manga?
What's more, one of my favorite works in my previous life just happened to be a Pokémon manga!
Pokémon Adventures!
At the thought, Shiraishi Ritsu grew thoroughly excited.
He did not even bother buying a magazine and ran straight back to his rented apartment.
"Smeargle! Quick, quick, quick! We've got something new to work on!"
"Smear?"
Smeargle was organizing his paints and jumped at his trainer's commotion.
Shiraishi Ritsu excitedly picked up paper and a pen.
"This time, we're not drawing ninjas or pirates!"
"We're drawing Pokémon!"
Smeargle blinked.
Pokémon?
Now that was something he knew!
Shiraishi Ritsu immediately began planning the story.
The protagonist was a boy from Pallet Town.
His name was Red.
He had outstanding talent as a Trainer, a hot-blooded personality, a love of adventure, and a very special Poliwhirl.
The story began in Pallet Town, and as the adventure progressed, Red would meet new companions, powerful opponents, and an evil organization hidden within the Kanto region.
Shiraishi Ritsu recalled the plot from his previous life as he wrote and sketched on paper.
Smeargle, meanwhile, diligently drew the character designs.
Before long, a boy wearing a hat, with a confident expression, appeared on the drawing paper.
Green and Blue followed.
Then came designs for Pokémon such as Charizard, Blastoise, and Pikachu.
This time, drawing came especially easily to Smeargle.
After all, he knew most of these Pokémon, and even for those he had never seen, he could learn their appearances and characteristics from Pokédex entries.
The more Shiraishi Ritsu looked, the more excited he became.
"Yes, yes, yes! That's exactly the feel!"
Several days later.
Kikkawa Maho received another submission from Masuda Senbei.
At first, she had been a little worried that this new author was about to present another bizarre premise.
But when she opened the document envelope, she froze.
"Pokémon Adventures."
"A Pokémon story?"
Kikkawa Maho's interest was piqued.
She picked up the manuscript and began turning through it, page by page.
At first, she only skimmed casually.
Gradually, she sat up straight.
By the time she finished the last page, she even found herself wanting more.
"What comes next?"
Shiraishi Ritsu paused.
"What do you mean, next?"
"The rest of the story!"
Kikkawa Maho looked up, her eyes sparkling.
"What Pokémon will this Red encounter next? And that boy named Green-he's clearly a really strong Trainer too, right?"
Shiraishi Ritsu smiled.
He knew he had finally found the right direction this time.
Soon, Pokémon Adventures secured an official serialization in Shonen Adventure.
And this time, the readers' response far exceeded the editorial department's expectations.
Exciting Pokémon battles, imaginative tactics, and Smeargle's truly top-tier artwork helped the manga quickly amass a large fan base.
Red, Green, and Blue kept growing in popularity.
More and more reader letters arrived at the magazine.
Its serialization ranking continued to climb as well.
Quite a few young Trainers even began imitating the fighting styles in the manga.
In just a few months, the pen name Masuda Senbei had made a name for itself in the Kanto Region's manga circles.
Shiraishi Ritsu was finally living the life he had dreamed of.
Every day, he came up with storylines and worked with Smeargle to meet deadlines, with a nice manuscript payment arriving at the end of the month.
Although he still had a long way to go before becoming the world's greatest manga artist, he was already quite content.
The only thing he found somewhat troublesome was that the plot of Pokémon Adventures had gradually begun to enter the Team Rocket arcs.
Sabrina.
Lt. Surge.
Koga.
And Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni.
These distinctive villains from Pokémon Adventures finally began appearing one after another.
Shiraishi Ritsu had, in fact, hesitated over this.
After all, many of the characters appearing in the manga had real-life counterparts.
However, the serialization had gone smoothly so far, and the publisher had already labeled the work as fiction, so he took his chances and continued drawing according to his memories.
Until that day.
In the manga studio in Celadon City.
Looking at the black-haired girl who had suddenly shown up at his door, Shiraishi Ritsu finally understood just how naive his original thinking had been.
Especially when Sabrina opened the manga, pointed at Giovanni, and asked why Viridian City's Gym Leader had become Team Rocket's boss, he felt utterly sick.
How was he supposed to answer that?
Was he supposed to tell Sabrina that Giovanni really was Team Rocket's boss in the manga, and that the real Giovanni was too?
Then he probably wouldn't even live to see tomorrow's sun!
Cold sweat poured from Shiraishi Ritsu's forehead as his mind raced for a way to respond.
But Sabrina had already lost her patience.
She slowly raised one hand.
The next second, every drawing pen in the studio floated into the air at once, and even the manga manuscript on the desk began to tremble slightly.
Frightened, Smeargle hurriedly hid behind Shiraishi Ritsu, leaving only half his head poking out.
The black-haired girl stared at him expressionlessly.
"Masuda Senbei."
"I'm waiting for your explanation."