If you've been on the internet, chances are you've heard of, or helped play, Twitch plays Pokémon. Like so many others, I became fascinated by the story that they created. This is my interpretation of that story. I'm trying to set it in universe, and come up with reasonable explanations for things. If you have any ideas or feedback on these ideas, I'd like to hear them.

I apologize for the hard-to-read quality of the voices. They're hard to get right.

Important Notes:

This is Red thinking

"This is normal speech."

[Andthesearethevoices.]

In regards to A, B, and Start commands: A is Yes, and B is No. I don't have an in-universe counterpart for start yet. Ideas would be nice.

I don't own Pokémon, or Twitch Plays Pokémon.

Can't believe I'm ten already.

Red tapped his feet against the bed excitedly. Tomorrow he would set out on his journey, and finally become a pokémon trainer. The morning was hours away, but he was still finding it hard to sleep.

"Red?" His mom called up the stairs. "Can you stop making so much noise? I can hear you from down here! You've got to get some sleep!"

"Sure!" Red called back. Quickly, he changed into his pyjamas and hopped into bed. Snuggling into the sheets, he grinned. One more day.

Outside the house, a figure peered up at the window as the lights went out. They stepped out of the shadows, covered from head to toe in baggy black clothes, a gas mask over their head. "Finally." They muttered. "I thought they would never get to sleep." Grabbing a bag from the bushes, they walked up to the door, shaking on the handle.

The figure gave a snort as the door swung inwards. "Can't believe it was unlocked." Silently, the figure made their way upstairs, stepping carefully to make no sound.

They opened the door to Red's room, looking at the boy asleep there.

Bingo.

Kneeling by the side of the bed, they pulled out a syringe filled with clear fluid. Carefully, they took Red's arm, injecting the liquid. Red twitched as the needle slid under his skin, but didn't wake up. The figure waited a few moments before nodding.

"That should keep him under until morning."

They slid a small tin out from the bag, as well as a shard of black stone about two inches long, and one wide. The stone shard seemed to throb and pulse angrily in the figure's hand. "Now, now. Enough of that." The figure soothed. "You'll have a new toy to play with in just a moment."

They opened the box, pulling out a scalpel. Rolling Red onto his back, they made an incision in the center of his chest. Carefully, they put the shard into the cut, wiping away the blood. Holding the stone in place, they sprayed a potion around the site, watching as the boy's flesh closed around the shard, healing without a scar.

The figure put away their tools, checking to make sure there was no trace of their presence besides the lump of stone sitting innocently in Red's chest. Satisfied, they stood and gave a mocking salute. "Have fun, little one. We'll be watching you."

They disappeared as silently as they had come.

[Up. Get Up. Upupupupup.]

Red groaned as he sat up in bed rubbing his eyes tiredly. His head was throbbing, and it sounded like a hundred people were screaming in his ears at the exact same time.

[Wakeupdresseatdressgetreadygo. Gogogogogo. Time to Go.]

Red froze. That was… that was really a voice. Looking around, he couldn't see anyone nearby who could have said it. Telepathy, maybe? Some Pokemon and people were said to be telepathic, after all.

[UP.] The voice screamed, this time joined by a dozen more. Red jerked, falling to the floor as his body automatically obeyed. "Ow."

[Standupupup.] The voices commanded. Carefully, Red stood up. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to fall again, he gave a sigh of relief. [Dress.] I know that.

[Updownleftleftup.] The voices weren't working together, it seemed, as each one gave Red a different command of how to get to his dresser. Red twitched as they all started yelling directions at the same time, forcing him to try every single one.

It took him ten minute before the chaos got them the ten steps to his dresser. Grabbing the drawers, he pulled out his clothes and clumsily changed into them, the voices yelling in his head every step of the way.

As he pulled on his shirt, his fingers touched what felt like a jagged piece of stone in the middle of his chest.

The voices stilled for a moment. [Us.] they declared, almost proud. [UsmeIyouhimherweallofusususus.]

Red closed his eyes for a moment. Not telepathy, then, he thought, fingers shaking as they traced the stone. They were somehow, in the stone. In him.

The voices didn't respond to that. Instead, his legs moved on their own, obeying the voices and their commands once more. [Upleftdownrightrightupleft]

Red stuck out his arms, catching himself before he could run into a wall. Staggering downstairs, he managed to grab a sitrus before the voices dragged him hapelessly onwards.

There was no order to the voices, he noticed as he wolfed down the berry. They each had their own ideas about what to do. I have to get to the Professor's lab.

[downuprighdownuprightleftupupuprightdownupleftup] Red waved sheepishly to some of the other residents of Pallet Town as he walked in circles, trying to get to the lab. Several times, he ended up walking into houses and yards, smacking into fences and trees.

He neared the lab, much to his relief and the excitement of the voices. A wrong step, however, sent him not towards the door of the lab, but the long uncut grass beside it.

"What are you doing?" Professor Oak grabbed him, hauling him back before he could step in. "Are you crazy, Red? How many times have I told you, if you don't have a pokémon, don't go in the grass!"

"S-sorry." Red stuttered. "Wa-w-wasn't m-me."

"Not you?" Professor Oak asked skeptically. "You're the only one here."

Red shook his head wordlessly, and pulled down his collar so that the Professor could see the stone shard. "The-there's things i-inside."

Oak looked alarmed at the stone. "That is, in a word, disturbing" he said. Grabbing Red's hand, he led the boy into the lab. "Sit down, Red. I'll take a look at that."

"W-what is it?"

"I'm not one hundred percent certain." The professor replied. "But it looks like a keystone."

"H-huh?"

The professor knelt down in front of Red, a small hammer in hand. "A keystone is the anchor for a pokémon from Sinnoh called Spiritomb. Spiritomb are ghost types, but instead of being a single ghost, there's a hundred and eight of them, all packed together.

[yesyesyesyesuprightno]

"I th-think they say th-that's right."

"Hrm." Professor Oak tapped on the keystone thoughtfully with the hammer, watching as purple sparks danced around it. "Do you know how this happened?"

"N-no." Red shook his head. "W-wasn't there last night." He shrugged helplessly. "C-can you f-fix it?"

"I'm sorry, Red." Professor Oak shook his head sadly. "The purple sparks mean that I'll get zapped if I try to take it out. I'm also not a doctor."

Red looked down at the floor. "O-oh." This was not how he envisioned his journey. He'd thought this would just be the first step, not learning that he had a malevolent pokémon permanently possessing him.

"Grandpa? Red? You in here?"

Red's best friend Blue pushed open the door to the lab. He blinked in confusion at the sight of his Grandpa holding a hammer and Red sitting on a chair, his shirt pulled up. "Do I want to know what's going on here?"

Red frowned, pulling his shirt down. "P-possessed. H-he's helping. Y-you okay?"

"I'm fine" Blue waved his hand nonchalantly. "What do you mean by possessed?"

Professor Oak shrugged. "Somehow, Red had a keystone from a Spiritomb embedded in his chest, effectively allowing him to be possessed by it. It attacks anyone who tries to touch it but Red."

"Does that mean that Red won't be going on his journey?" Asked Blue. "I was really looking forward to competing with him."

Professor Oak nodded. "It's looking that way. I need to see if there's anything I can do to help, and it's not a good idea for Red to wander off."

.

For once, Red agreed with the spiritomb. Everyone was deciding his future except him. And there was no way that he was going to let them decide his future.

"I w-want to go." Red spoke up. He balled up his shaking fingers, tucking them tightly against his sides. "I-I know it's d-dangerous, b-but I want to go. I w-want to d-decide for mys-self."

Blue shook his head. "No way! You've got an evil pokémon possessing you! If you go out, you'll get yourself killed!"

[helphelphelpwin. Wanttowin. Helpyouwinworktogetherhelpyouwin.]

"Th-they aren't evil. A-and they want t-to help." Red stammered forcefully. "I-I can do this. P-please, Professor. I-I want to go."

Professor Oak sighed. "I really don't think that it's a good idea."

"Th-they attack anyone w-who t-touches the s-stone, right?" What about anyone who tries to hurt me?

[yesyesyes. .]

Red took a deep breath. "Th-they say that i-if I'm hurt, they w-will be too. S-so they'll protect me."

Blue frowned. "I don't know." Stepping up to Red, he punched the boy in the gut. Purple sparks surrounded Red for a moment, before leaping angrily at Blue. Blue gave a hiss, falling to his knees and rubbing his fist.

Red hunched over, clutching his stomach. "T-that hurt!" He glared at Blue. "Wh-why'd you do that?"

Blue shook his hand, opening and closing his hand a few times. "I was calling their bluff, making sure they really would." He winced, tucking his hand into his pocket. "Looks like they were telling the truth. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other problems. What about things like cars, or cliffs, or even water? You could still drown."

Red sighed. Blue had a point. Even if the spiritomb could protect him from people, there were still other problems. Other challenges. "…"

"I don't think those will be as big of a problem, Blue." Professor Oak noted. "If Red does go, he'll have a pokémon with him at all times. Even with the danger, it won't be hard to call out a pokémon before that happens."

"And if they faint?"

[rulesarerule. Allfaintwefaint.]

"I-if the others faint, the s-spiritomb will too."

"Which would give you the necessary co-ordination to get to safety. But the wild pokémon…"

[stillgethurt] "Still get hurt." Red and the spiritomb chorused together, their voices overlapping.

Blue shook his head. "Okay, I heard that. That's kind of creepy."

Professor Oak nodded to himself. "If that's what they're willing to do, then it should be okay for you to go. Just let me take some measurements first, so that I can see if there's a way to separate you safely."

Red nodded. He was going to get to go on his journey after all! Blue still looked skeptical, but it didn't matter. He was going to do his very best no matter what.

Professor Oak took whatever measurements he needed fairly quickly, before bringing out the Pokeballs, as well as two small red devices. "These are pokedexes, my latest project. If you catch a pokémon, it will record some useful data on that pokémon." He passed them to Red and Blue. "Now Red, pick your pokémon."

Red reached out, calling out a female charmander. "Th-this one."

Oak nodded. "You can use the keypad on your pokedex to enter a nickname, if you want to."

Red opened the pokedex. His fingers shook, typing in a string of gibberish and the 'enter' button. Blue looked over from where he was entering a nickname for a squirtle, and snorted at the sight of the nickname. "Ay bee bee bee bee bee bee kay parentheses? Um, isn't that a bit of a mouthful?"

Red shrugged. "S-she can be Abby. Rename L-later."

Blue shrugged, and pulled Red outside. "Whatever. Let's see how good you can battle. That's important too. You can't just rely on Spiritomb, after all."

Red nodded. "O-okay."

[battlebattlebattle!]

Red winced, rubbing his head. Blue paused, looking at his friend. "Are you alright?"

Red nodded, sending out Abby. Blue did the same, and his squirtle took the opposite side of the field.

Red looked at his pokedex, noting the scratch and growl. Scratch would be best.

[scratchgrowlgrowlgrowlscratchgrowlscratch] The spiritomb pitched in its many varied thoughts on the idea, and Red was surprised when instead of saying scratch, the command that he gave was instead "Growl!"

Abby did as she was told, trying to ignore squirtle and its leer. Red frowned. So the spiritomb could hijack his voice, and not just his body. He should have guessed when they'd spoken in unison earlier, but now, it made battling a guessing game, with no real way to tell what move was going to be used.

Abby only had two moves, and fortunately, the next was the much more useful "Scratch". A couple more random scratches and growls, and squirtle was down for the count.

Blue recalled squirtle, looking at Red in surprise. "I was holding back to be on the safe side, but it looks like I didn't need to." He grinned. "Good job Red!"

Red grinned sheepishly. "I-it was r-really r-random." He scratched his head nervously. "S-spiritomb wanted to h-help. I-I didn't know wh-what was going to happen."

Blue looked incredulous. "That's some luck!" Sighing, the other boy turned and looked at the road. "Looks like our journey starts here, eh Red? I'll see you around sometime." Blue walked off, leaving Red to stand happily at the start of his journey.

[updownleftrightyesnorightnoupyesright] Spiritomb clamoured in his mind, conflicting ideas and commands. Red gave a sigh as his legs started moving of their own accord once more, sending him who knows where.

Oh, it starts easily enough. Just wait, Red. Just wait.