Chapter 1: A New Adventure

Lost. Hopelessly lost. Unbelievably lost. Probably somewhere dangerous, too, with an evil plot right under his nose, knowing his luck.

Luigi Mario was not having a good day, in short, not helped at all by the fact that he was quite hungry and the odds of something jumping out of nowhere and attacking him were very high (though this was nothing new). Not looking where he was going, he smacked face-first into a large boulder. He kicked it in frustration, turning it into half a dozen smaller boulders.

The various creatures which had been intending to give the man a little fright wisely decided to give him some distance.

The sounds of the fleeing creatures brought Luigi to his senses. "Right, right… Can't let it get to me, that doesn't do any good… What would Mario do?"

Find some random person who needed help, and put everything on hold to help with their problem. That wasn't really relevant to being lost in an unknown forest, though… Whenever Mario was lost, he'd always turn right, and try to get as high as possible. Luigi wasn't really coordinated enough to just jump into the trees, so that left trying to find a path, and taking a right turn whenever he could.

… While it seemed like it would get him turned in circles, he knew that it always worked out when Mario did it, so it was worth a shot anyway. He ran through the forest, ready to turn right at the first opportunity.

Two minutes later, he was in a ravine. Typical, really. Thankfully, cliffs were much bigger targets than tree branches, so Luigi was able to just jump out.

He landed right in the middle of a path, which was probably a lucky break for him. He turned to the right, and began walking down the path, letting his thoughts lead him. What had happened, to get him lost in the forest in the first place? Everything after going to bed last night was fuzzy, but it didn't feel like anything unusual had happened. Considering what passed for normal in his life, that wasn't exactly comforting.

He racked his brain a bit more, trying to see if he could figure out anything else. Peach had been there, along with a few other friends and enemies. Bowser, definitely… Someone in blue… Kamek? Had Bowser had some new harebrained scheme (no offense to actual hares) that he needed Kamek's help for? Probably, but he had no idea which one. Off the top of his head, he could think of forty-six schemes where Bowser brought Kamek to the castle, and there were definitely more on top of that.

He looked up for a moment, and realized that he wasn't in the forest anymore, or anywhere even close. He was walking through an idyllic little town, which seemed to be almost nothing but houses. All of the houses were pretty small, the size of Pipe House or just a bit bigger. It really was quite a pleasant town, especially with it being as quiet as it was this early in the morning.

There was an interesting looking building some distance away, bigger than the rest in town, with its own windmill. That meant it was probably important, and he might find some information there. It was a short walk, and soon he was in front of the sign for the building.

The sign didn't seem to be in any language he could read. The characters looked sort of like Sarasa text, but they definitely weren't, the symbols were much more curved, and he couldn't recognize a single one.

It dawned on Luigi that the people here might not even speak English. He hadn't seen any locals yet, so he didn't even know what species they were… odds were, they'd never seen humans before, and if he couldn't talk to them, they might assume he was a rampaging monster and attack.

… Mario would just walk up and say hi regardless. Luigi sighed. That was… Probably really the only way to get anything done in this situation. So he walked up to the door, and knocked.

There were a few crashes inside, and an old - human! - man in a white lab coat, red polo shirt, and khaki pants opened the door. "Oh, a new trainer! How exciting! … And early. I'm quite sorry, my boy, I'm terribly busy right now, dozens of others are coming today for their starters, and I've got nothing set up. Here, come in, come in, let's do this quickly." He quickly dragged Luigi inside, to a trio of red and white balls on a table, each with a small picture of an animal next to it. "Alright, choose the one you want, and I'll figure out where the Pokédexes have gotten to… A green one for you, I think." He quickly left to another room, leaving Luigi alone.

He took a quick look around - He was in some sort of research lab, it looked like. It wasn't dark and foreboding or cold and high-tech, as Professor Gadd seemed to prefer, it was actually pretty inviting. Everything was cluttered, it looked like the old man had been in a rush to do something. After getting over the shock of actually meeting another human, he turned his attention to the three balls on the table before him.

… What did he mean, pick the one he wanted? Apart from the pictures next to them - which he now saw were labeled with the same strange text as the sign outside - They were completely identical. A blue turtle, an orange lizard, and a green… Something.

Well, he did like the color green. Honestly he had no clue what was going on, but it was a bit rude to refuse a gift, so he picked up the ball of his choice. Not long after he chose it, the old man returned with a small device that reminded him a lot of the Game Boy Horror, only it was green and seemed to fold out.

"Bulbasaur! Good choice. I chose Charmander, myself, and I'm sure my grandson will choose Squirtle. Anyway, let me get this Pokédex registered for you and your Pokémon… Let's see, name?"

"Uhh… Luigi Mario…" What in the world was a Pokémon?

"Date of birth?"

"October 11, 1981…"

"Fifteen. Quite a late start, but it's good to be prepared. Home address?"

"Pipe House… Er, it's kind of a shack in the middle of nowhere, so that's it…" It hadn't quite registered with Luigi that the old man had somehow come to the conclusion that he was ten years younger than he actually was.

"Alright. All registered. Here's your Pokédex, and some Pokéballs to get you started," He handed Luigi the green device, along with five more of the red and white balls. "Now you're all ready for your Pokémon Adventure! Now, why don't you go outside and get to know your Bulbasaur? I have to get this place ready to have a dozen ten-year-olds clamoring for their own Pokémon in two hours, so I don't really have much time, I'm afraid!" He pulled Luigi back out, and rushed back into the lab.

Luigi was still completely and hopelessly lost, with no idea what he was doing, or what had just happened.

"… What even is a Pokémon?"

Unsurprisingly, he got no answer. Well, nothing for it, then, but to walk and try and figure out what the heck was going on. In theory, this seemed like a good idea, but in practice it was mostly wandering aimlessly through a forest and fiddling with his Pokédex to see if it would do anything.

Eventually it played a sound clip, identifying him as Luigi Mario, given a Pokédex by Professor Oak in Pallet Town.

"… What is a Pokédex, exactly?" Luigi wondered out loud. To his surprise, the device actually played a short recording, explaining its function - It was made to provide information in a readily-availible manner, and he simply had to point it at a Pokémon or other object for information. To try it out, he pointed it at the ball he'd gotten from Professor Oak.

"A Pokéball, a device used to transport Pokémon. The Pokémon can be released from the ball simply by throwing it, or they may come out on their own."

... Were they toys? The ball was only about three inches across, he wasn't sure what else it could be. Well, the only way to find out was to throw it, and it's not like the professor would give something dangerous out to ten-year-olds.

He threw the ball, and it bounced on the ground, opening up into a flash of red light. As the ball bounced back into his hand, the light formed into a full-size version of the creature he'd seem a picture of in Oak's lab… Bulbasaur?

"Uh… Hello."

"Bulba."

"My name is Luigi… Uh…" Luigi sighed. "Okay, to be honest, I'm really confused. My friends are missing, I'm lost, and nothing's making sense. I just… Do you think you can help me, at all?"

"… Saur," the creature said, nodding its head. "Bul, bulbasaur."

"Thank you! Thank you so much, Bulbasaur." Luigi picked up his Pokémon, giving him a hug. "Alright… So… Probably should retrace my steps, first. Let's go!"

Luigi always felt better when he had someone else with him.

He should have known that it wouldn't be that easy. By the time he'd managed to find another town, he'd already been nearly crushed by two boulders, chased by several flocks of killer birds, managed to get the attention of some crime syndicate by foiling some poachers with some weird motto, and may have accidentally kicked a rock into a spontaneous warp zone that promptly disappeared.

In other words, he wandered from one place to the next, surrounded by a whirlpool of weirdness and helping people along the way. A typical day in the life of a Mario Brother.

Honestly, with how the day had been going, he was surprised that he hadn't accidentally stumbled onto a huge conspiracy yet.

This new town had a sign, which was just as unreadable as everything else he'd seen. Luigi frowned. Did they just use a different writing system? Or was it some cryptic conspiracy nonsense? He was probably thinking too far into it, but having been thrust into Adventures from unlikely sources his entire life, he couldn't be too careful.

"Bulbasaur Saurbul," Bulbasaur said, from his spot in Luigi's arms. It sounded like he was saying the name of something, probably this city.

"Well, I'm glad you know where we are," Luigi said. "… Where are we?"

"Viridian City, the City of Evergreen." The Pokédex stated. "Home of the Viridian Gym, led by Giovanni. The Gym specializes in Ground-type Pokémon. Directions to the Pokémon Center are available if needed."

… He had no clue what that was. But, it was mentioned, so odds were, it was relevant, so he asked the Pokédex for directions. It took him down a few streets, but he was able to reach it in just a few minutes at a slow jog, careful not to go too fast because he was fairly sure that humans here didn't have any powers. He wasn't exactly sure what powerless humans could and couldn't do, but he couldn't be that far off in his guess.

… Or maybe he could, because as soon as he reached the 'Pokémon Center', someone asked if he was one of the beta testers for those experimental super-fast running shoes that had been all over the news lately. He said yes, just to avoid suspicion.

The lady at the desk was very nice, although pink hair loopies were a new one on him. Even so, she offered him to rest his Bulbasaur and stay the night, an offer he gladly accepted.

As he lay awake in bed, he began to think that, maybe, this day wasn't so bad after all. There hadn't been any sort of disaster, and he'd met a new friend. Sure, he was still lost, but exploring new places was one of the better aspects of having a life of Adventures. Maybe things would go okay, he thought, as he smiled at the sleeping form of his new friend.

In hindsight, he really should've known better.

Author's Note

It's been some time. It's REALLY been some time. I've had so many ideas, but so little I felt I could write. I decided that, until I can write five chapters of a story in advance, I just wouldn't post it online.

Well, I finally managed to. The first five chapters of this story are written, and I'll be posting them in the following days. So, this is a different take on a story idea I tried a while back - a crossover between the Mario games, and the Pokémon animated series. Now, to clear it up, even though it's in the next chapter: This is a story where Ash travels back in time, although he wasn't informed of it beforehand, and no one has any control over who remembers and when, all the while Luigi is trying to pretend to be a normal human while looking for his friends and a way home.

If I feel there's something important about my interpretation of the worlds, but doesn't really fit in the chapter, and might not be that important to the narrative, I'll try to mention it down here. For example, in the normal Mario world, the events of the Paper Mario games DID happen, but specific details are different from the games, because we only saw the events in the paper world, and vice versa.

The next chapter will focus on Ash, and of course, Pikachu will show himself.

EDIT: As it turns out, Mario and Luigi have an official birthday! Changed from March 10 to October 11.