It's finally here!

Disclaimer: Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Kirby, Legend of Zelda and Super Smash Bros. belong to Nintendo and Sword Art Online belongs to ASCII Media Works. I do not own any of the franchises.

Chapter 5: The Year of Pokemon

In an undisclosed location, far and out of the view of players celebrating their winter holidays and the New Year, an armored man was scrolling through his user interface. His user interface was much larger and has a greater variety of functions and commands available when compared to that of the standard one used by players.

"Intriguing… No… Amazing…!" he gasped as he looked through the data and images he had recently gotten hold of. To him, to have something that practically looked like a whole bestiary available was practically unbelievable. However, it was surprisingly easy – it was as if he had copied a "RAR" file and extracted the contents from it.

"Sword Art Online certainly has become… much more interesting…" he stated with a small smirk. "… Thanks to the ten-thousand first player…"

Music track: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U: Challenger Approaching

It was an early February morning when everybody heard alarm sirens ring into the air. Many found themselves forcibly teleported to nearby cities and safe areas while many others sleeping outdoors were rudely awakened from their slumber. The sky became electronic neon blue with a message with large bold letters saying: "MAJOR SYSTEM UPDATE IN PROGRESS. PLEASE WAIT…"

The players had different thoughts on the surprise event.

"What's going on?" a player asked.

"I don't know!" another replied.

"You guys got sent here, too?"

"What do you think the update is going to be about?"

"No clue."

Many players can guess that as the update seemed to take a long time to put into Sword Art Online, it was likely to be a big one and sure enough, the message in the sky soon said "SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE" before it disappeared and the sky returned to normal, showing a rising sun and some clouds. The alarm sirens stopped ringing.

"Huh?" said one player as he noticed that he had received a new, unread message. "What's this?"

Other players nearby, as well as those that were already awake, noticed that they also each received one and quickly opened theirs. Soon enough, many were gasping and had wide eyes as they read their messages.

Music track: Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire: Opening

In a room in an inn, Red was still asleep, unaware of the surprise update. Asuna, however, was already awake and read her message, only to be surprised as well. She tried to shake him awake.

"Red, wake up," she said. "You might want to check your message inbox."

"Mm… five more minutes," the Pokemon trainer mumbled sleepily, turning over so his back was facing her.

"… Red, if you don't wake up now, I wouldn't make you any breakfast."

"Wah! I'm awake! I'm awake!"

"Check your message inbox – you wouldn't believe it!"

"Let's see…" Red opened his user interface and checked his message inbox. Sure enough, there was one unread message above the private messages with his contacts. Red tapped the message to open it so he can read it. The message subject said "Major Update!"

The text on the message was shown:

"February XX, 2024

A whole bevy of new monsters has inhabited all floors of the floating castle of Aincrad! Many new opportunities wait for all players, regardless if they're clearers or skillers, because of these unique monsters called Pokemon. Pokemon have many different appearances and they have different strengths and weaknesses. Pokemon can be as weak and docile as the first floor's Frenzy Boars, or they can be as powerful and fearsome as even floor bosses!

Pokemon can be defeated via normal combat via players and perhaps tamed beasts for experience and item drops, but similarly to beasts that can be tamed, players can choose to capture Pokemon to make them potentially valuable allies. Every major city in each floor of Aincrad has an NPC vendor that sells Pokeballs – capture devices used to capture Pokemon – for players to use should players desire to capture Pokemon. Pokemon, regardless of being weak or strong when first caught, can become powerful should players take the time to train and bond with them. Pokemon can be a great help to whatever you do!

Also, due to the apparent lack of diversity in PVP content, players with Pokemon can choose to battle other players that have Pokemon in Pokemon battles. These battles are safe since the players do not go directly into combat itself and have to issue battle commands for their Pokemon. There are different types of battles such as single (1 VS. 1) battles, double (2 VS. 2) battles and more! The battles can be made even more interesting as Pokemon not only earn more experience in battles against trained Pokemon, but players can also wager Col and items to reap great rewards or devastating losses!

There are many more things to discover after this major update but that shall not be spoiled for all of you players – so get out there and meet the new Pokemon!

-Kayaba Akihiko."

Red was shocked and speechless as he read the newsletter a few more times to make sure he was not hallucinating and so he did not miss anything.

"How…?" he wondered out loud. "How did the creator of Sword Art Online get the data for the Pokemon? Pokemon aren't exactly widespread in the world and most of the world has never seen any actual Pokemon outside of the occasional book and such."

He returned his attention to the user interface and quickly tried to contact Bill. It took almost a minute and soon enough, Bill's face appeared on the screen. Bill looked haggard and his hair was messy as he softly yawned.

"Red, what is it?" Bill asked. "It's early and I haven't had much time to sleep lately."

"Take a look at this, Bill," Red replied, showing him the newsletter of the update.

Bill took a few minutes to read, only for his eyes to similarly grow wide with shock.

"As exciting it may be," Bill declared. "It does sound rather odd. How did Kayaba know about Pokemon, let alone put potentially hundreds of different species of them into the game in one massive update? Red, I'll have to look at some things. Just hang in there, okay?"

Red nodded before the video transmission ended. He was silent for a while in thought.

"Red, let's get some breakfast – I want to get my own Pokemon today!" Asuna said cheerily.

Red smiled, changed his clothes, washed up and followed after her, his stomach grumbling. The duo soon had a simple yet delicious breakfast of eggs, toast and sausage, all prepared by Asuna.

"This sure beats inn food by a landslide," Red praised Asuna, as the girl smiled and blushed a little with pride to his words.

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Asuna said, letting Red help himself to a second helping of breakfast.

The Lightning Flash opened the door only to be greeted with the sight of a familiar cloaked girl.

Music track: Pokemon Black and White: Opening

"You're… you're that information broker – the Rat, right?" Asuna stated as if it were not some question.

"Heh, I should charge you for knowing that information," Argo joked before she became serious. "Where's Red? I want to see him."

Asuna warily let Argo in. Argo did not waste time in making her way over to the table where Red sat at, just having shoveled down another fried egg. Red looked up.

"Hm?" He looked at Argo questioningly – his mouth was still stuffed with egg.

"Red, or the Blazing Sword, I presume?" the information broker said.

Red gulped down the egg before he washed it down with some water. "This is about the update, isn't it?"

"Yes, and I believe that you would have information I seek. And I am more than willing to pay handsomely for it."

Argo opened up her player interface and opened up the trade menu which also popped up in front of Red. With some quick swipes of her finger, the amount of potential Col that Argo would pay for information from Red was already enormous.

"People would pay that much for that information?!" Asuna spluttered.

"Basic economics: there's low supply of known information and high demand for more information," stated Argo plainly. "Simple as that."

Red thought for a few minutes before a doubt popped up in his head. "What if people realize that the information came from the so-called 'Hacker'? Would they not want it?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take for this transaction, especially with an update as big as this."

"And this is Sword Art Online – information on Pokemon may not be the same as in the real world."

"Again, another risk I'm willing to take. You're my best bet on having that information and you'd most likely have something rather than nothing unlike most of the players on this player base."

Red made his decision. It took him and Argo over an hour to carry out their transaction. Argo paid much more Col than what she had originally intended for the wealth of information since Red knew so much about Pokemon – even though Red remained tight-lipped on certain aspects of Pokemon. Argo left, more than satisfied by the information obtained while Red was thousands of Col richer than before.

"So much Col…" Asuna gasped. "What are we going to be doing with all this?"

"I don't know…" Red replied. "Besides the obvious like better equipment and supplies."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I want to get myself a Pokemon!"

Red smiled at Asuna's enthusiasm. "Let's go."

Music track: Pokemon: Route 1 ~The Route to Viridian from Pallet~

It did not take Red and Asuna long to race out of the inn once they got packed up for the road. With a teleport, they returned to the first floor, the Town of Beginnings.

"We'll need to get you some Pokeballs so you can catch Pokemon – without them, if the newsletter was any indication, facing a wild Pokemon would seem to be the same as facing an ordinary monster in battle," Red said to Asuna as he looked around the town, trying to find a Pokeball vendor. It did not take long before they found a vendor standing underneath an awning with a telltale Pokeball print. With some Col, Red bought Asuna six Pokeballs.

"There, that should get you started, Asuna," Red declared. "We can head back to town if we need more."

Once they were outside of the town, they could see that Pokemon were indeed amongst the regular monsters – in this case, the Frenzy Boars. Red can immediately recognize the Pokemon around – Rattata, Pidgey and among others. He can also see players fighting the Pokemon – several wasted no time getting a Pokemon to do battle with the wild Pokemon while others directly attacked the wild Pokemon by themselves.

Asuna was in awe. "Wow… the Pokemon look so cute!"

"Well, things seem to be a bit different here than from where I'm from as you, the player, can attack wild Pokemon directly. And Pokemon appear in many different shapes and sizes – these Pokemon here are common from whichever region they're from and for the most part, rather docile and not exactly strong without training," explained Red. "Is there a Pokemon that catches your eye?"

"Hmm…" Asuna pondered for a moment as she looked around the grassy plain, trying to find a Pokemon that she would want to capture. At last, her eyes lit up as she pointed to a small red and gray bird. "I'd want that one!"

The little Pokemon looked up curiously upon hearing Asuna and seeing her point at it.

"Fletch?" it chirped as it twitched its head into a small tilt.

"Ah, a Fletchling," said Red before he thought of something. "Let me see if this works…"

He opened up his user interface to access his bag and produced his Pokedex. He held it out and aimed it at Fletchling.

"Fletchling, the Tiny Robin Pokemon," beeped the handheld device. "A Normal-Flying-type. These friendly Pokemon send signals to one another with beautiful chirps and tail-feather movements. However, despite the beauty of its lilting voice, it's merciless to intruders that enter its territory."

"So it actually works on these in-game Pokemon," Red confirmed before he turned to Asuna. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and face it!"

"Right!" Asuna replied as she raced up to the Fletchling, which spread its wings in response to her challenge.

Music track: Pokemon Origins: Kanto Wild Pokemon

"Alright Asuna, since we're back on the first floor, many of the monsters here would easily fall to our attacks," said Red. "You'd probably need to hold back on using sword skills if you want to catch easily – Pokemon cannot be captured when it is knocked out and you're very high levelled when compared to the Fletchling."

"Then I wouldn't use any sword skills then," replied Asuna as she quickly slashed at the Fletchling using her rapier. As she did not activate a sword skill, she did not do much damage on Fletchling.

"Alright, keep at it!" Red cheered. "Just don't let your guard down though!"

As if on cue, the Tiny Robin Pokemon flapped its wings, lifting itself into the air before bashing its body into the rapier-wielding brunette's arm. Fortunately for Asuna, as the Tackle attack came from a rather inexperienced Pokemon, it did not do much damage.

"Taking hits is to be expected when trying to capture Pokemon," Red stated. "Though typically Pokemon take the hits, not humans."

Asuna landed a few more slash and stab attacks using her rapier, finally chipping away Fletchling's health low enough that the Fletchling's health bar was short and red.

"Now! It's weak enough!" Red prompted. "Use your Pokeball to catch it!"

"Right!" Asuna gasped as she quickly opened her pouch and pulled the red-and-white sphere out and chucked it at the tiny bird Pokemon. The Pokeball bounced on the weakened Pokemon's head before it opened up and turned the Fletchling into a blob of red light, sucking it into it. The Pokeball closed before it landed on the ground, wobbling from side to side. It was not long before it stopped and gave out a small ping sound, signifying a successful capture.

Music track: Pokemon: Meeting and Parting

"Well done!" Red congratulated proudly. "You caught your first Pokemon!"

"Hooray!" cheered Asuna happily as she grabbed Red by the arm and began to do a joyful dance, pulling the veteran trainer with her.

"Hold your Ponyta… or horses or whatever! Your Fletchling's still on low health! We'd have to heal it first before it can be of any use in battle!"

Asuna stopped, blushing sheepishly. "Ah, right… Lead the way?"

A short trip back to the Town of Beginnings was all that was needed for Asuna's Fletchling to be fully healed before they teleported back to the floor where the inn in which they had stayed in was at. Asuna and Red sat on a bench with the former petting the Fletchling, stroking its feathers.

"It feels so real…" gasped Asuna happily as she rubbed the top of Fletchling's head, much to the bird Pokemon's pleasure.

"Hmm…" hummed Red. "It's just strange yet amazing that the creator of the game managed to put Pokemon in…"

"I see you two didn't waste any time," said a male's voice.

The Lightning Blaze duo looked up to see none other than Kirito standing in front of them with his signature black coat. In his hand was a Pokeball. Red was quick to notice the capture device.

"Ah, you caught a Pokemon yourself, haven't you, Kirito?" Red stated.

"Mm, I figured a having a Pokemon could help me in this game, so, why not?"

"I see." Red glanced at Asuna before he looked back to Kirito. "Hmm… how about you and Asuna have a Pokemon battle?"

"Oh?" Asuna queried.

"Well, Pokemon are known to grow faster when faced against Pokemon that belong to trainers – generally, Pokemon that belong to trainers are usually more experienced than those found in the wild."

"I see – it sounds like a good idea!"

Kirito gave the two a small smile. "I found a spot outside of town where we can have our battle – there's some space there, but there aren't many players around – most are probably around busy."

"Let's go," Red declared.

Music track: Pokemon: Boy Appears

Kirito led the duo to a grassy clearing in a forest. There were no players around, thus allowing Kirito and Asuna to have their battle in peace.

"Let's go, Starly!" called out Kirito, throwing his Pokeball into the air.

The Pokeball opened up to send out a dark brown bird Pokemon that had a white face and large black eyes.

"Starly!" chirped the Pokemon.

"Fletchling, come on out!" called out Asuna as she tossed her Pokeball into the air, releasing her red-gray bird Pokemon.

"Fletch!" cried out the Tiny Robin Pokemon.

The two little bird Pokemon stared down at each other as the battle got ready to begin!

Sorry for the long wait! College and gaming ate up a lot of my time as well as focusing on my other fanfic! I've finally managed to get this chapter out before I had to go back to college.

I hope you readers enjoyed this chapter!