I woke to sunlight streaming through unfamiliar windows.
My initial thought was somewhat detached: This isn't my apartment.
My second thought was panic.
I sat up too fast and immediately regretted it. The room spun, my head throbbed, and my body felt... different.
Not injured, just different. Heavier. Taller. Like I'd been stretched and reshaped while unconscious.
The memories crashed back all at once. The truck. Steve. The wheels. The Genetic Architect System.
Oh god, it actually happened.
I looked around, trying to orient myself. The bedroom was massive. Easily three times the size of my studio apartment.
Hardwood floors, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves packed with leather-bound volumes, a desk with what looked like actual research papers scattered across it.
One wall was dominated by a massive window overlooking...
I stumbled out of bed and pressed my face against the glass.
Holy shit.
Fields. Actual fields stretched out as far as I could see, dotted with what I could only describe as habitats. Forests, ponds, rocky outcroppings. And moving through them, clear as day even from this distance, were Pokémon.
Real, living, breathing Pokémon.
A Tauros herd grazed near a creek. A Pidgeot soared overhead. Something that might have been a Nidoking lumbered between two hills.
"This is real," I whispered, my breath fogging the window. "This is actually real."
"Samael!" A voice called from somewhere below. "Are you awake yet?"
I froze.
That voice. I knew that voice. I'd heard it hundreds of times in the anime, gruff but warm, authoritative but kind. But they'd called me...
"Samael?" I said aloud, confused. That was my name. My real name. But Steve said I'd be in someone else's body. So why—
"Samael, come on!" The voice called again. "We need to discuss your training schedule before breakfast!"
"I'll be down in a minute!" I shouted back automatically, then stood there in my boxer shorts, completely disoriented.
Okay. Okay, think. Steve said I'd figure out who I was when I looked in a mirror. The system, that's right, the system should have information.
I closed my eyes, remembering how it felt when the wheels stopped spinning. The cold sensation of something foreign is integrating into my consciousness.
System, I thought.
Nothing.
Genetic Architect System?
Still nothing.
Status? Menu? Interface?
[GENETIC ARCHITECT SYSTEM — INITIALIZING]
The text blazed across my vision in dark azure, and suddenly an interface materialized in front of me like a holographic display.
It was clean, minimalist, and organized exactly how I would have designed it if given the choice:
GENETIC ARCHITECT SYSTEM
Name: Samael Oak
Age: 17
Pokémon: None
Genetic Points: 500
Location: Oak Estate
Active Abilities:
Prism Eye
Origin Tongue
Genetic Optimization
Quests: None Active
Achievements: None
I stared at the display, my mind racing.
Samael Oak.
Oak.
Oak.
"No," I whispered. "No way."
I spun around, searching the room frantically until I found it—a full-length mirror mounted on the back of what I assumed was the bathroom door.
I stumbled toward it, my legs unsteady, and looked at my reflection for the first time.
The face staring back at me was familiar in the worst possible way.
Sharp features. Strong jawline. Dark brown eyes that carried an intensity I'd never had in my previous life. Hair that was somehow perfectly styled, even though I'd just woken up. Spiky brown with that distinctive swept-back look that defied physics.
Gary Oak.
Except... not quite. This face was older than the ten-year-old cocky rival from the anime. This was Gary if he'd been aged up, matured, given an extra seven years to grow into himself.
Still recognizable, but different enough that I might not have placed it immediately if not for the name.
"I'm Gary Oak," I said to my reflection, and the words felt surreal. "Steve put me in Gary Oak's fucking body. How am I supposed to be the protagonist now?"
But the system said Samael Oak. Not Gary. Samael.
I touched my face, watching the reflection mirror the movement.
"Okay," I muttered, trying to process. "Extreme Mode. Timeline's different. Someone had the Genetic System before me and changed things. So in this version... Gary's name is Samael? Or maybe Gary was always a nickname, and Samael is his real name?"
It made a twisted kind of sense. Gary Oak, the arrogant rival who always stayed one step ahead. Of course, Steve would put me in his body instead of Ash's.
It was almost poetic. I spent my life optimizing, min-maxing, and perfecting strategies, and now I get to be the character who represented that same mentality in the Pokémon world.
"Samael!" The voice called again, more insistent now. "Your grandfather's waiting!"
Grandfather.
Professor Oak.
I'm related to Professor Oak.
The realization hit me like a truck-kun was coming back for round two. I wasn't just Gary Oak—I was part of the most essential family in Pokémon research.
I had access to resources, knowledge, and connections that Ash never had.
And according to the system, I was seventeen. I have less than a year until I can start my journey.
"Because what right-minded person sends ten-year-olds into the wilderness alone," I muttered, finally understanding.
This world had aged up the protagonist cast, making the journey something adults did, not children. It made practical sense.
I quickly pulled on clothes, finding them already laid out on a chair, thankfully, and studied myself one more time in the mirror.
Dark jeans, a fitted black shirt, a purple jacket that screamed, "I'm Gary Oak, remember me." I looked good. Better than I ever had as Samael.
The system interface still hovered at the edge of my vision. 500 GP. Exactly enough for one Genetic Optimization.
That's not a coincidence, I thought. Steve gave me a starting bonus. One perfect Pokémon right out of the gate.
"Coming!" I called and headed for the door.
The estate was ridiculous.
I'd seen mansions before—on TV, in movies, in the backgrounds of anime episodes. But walking through one, knowing it was my home now, was something else entirely.
Hardwood floors polished to a mirror shine. Paintings of legendary Pokémon on the walls. Display cases showcasing evolution stones, fossils, and what looked like authentic Gym Badges from multiple regions.