On top of a snowy mountain, two figures stood facing each other. Their breaths came in heavy puffs, visible in the freezing air. The icy wind howled around them, blowing through torn fabric and bruised skin.
The ground beneath their feet was wrecked—fractured earth, cratered ice, water from melted snow mixing with debris. Signs of battle were everywhere.
One of them was a boy—only 11 years old. He wore a cap with yellow lightning bolt-like markings, a zipped-up red hoodie, and long pants, now scraped and dirt-stained.
[Insert image of Ethan]
Across from him stood an older boy, maybe 13. His spiky black hair peeked out from under a red cap. He wore a red jacket over a white shirt and dark pants. His calm eyes were locked on the younger boy.
[Insert image of Red]
Red glanced down at his exhausted Pokémon.
"Pikachu… can you still fight?" he asked quietly.
Pikachu turned toward him, shaky, before collapsing. Red quickly caught it in his arms.
Ethan sighed in relief. "Return, Crobat," he said, calling back his own partner, who was still flapping weakly above the ice. The bat Pokémon vanished in a flash of red light.
He glanced at Red. "Guess you're the strongest," Ethan admitted.
Red simply nodded and turned away—but stopped after a few steps.
"I suggest you stop… before it's too late."
Ethan rolled his eyes like he'd heard this speech before. "Please. What's the worst that could happen? We have the same power."
Red didn't respond. He just sighed again.
"Let this be a warning."
Ethan watched him go, unimpressed. "Alright… time to start again," he muttered. "Let's see… maybe this time I grab a Garchomp from Sinnoh?"
He raised his right hand—and reality itself began to fracture around him.
Cracks in the air. The wind froze. Time paused.
This was his power.
The same power Red had.
Save and Reset.
---
(Author Note: Think of it like Undertale's SAVE mechanic, with full memory carryover like Frisk or Chara. Yeah, broken.)
---
Ethan opened his eyes in the void between time. Just blackness and glowing memory shards floating like broken glass around him.
He yawned.
The first time he used this power, he'd been terrified. Now? He'd used it so much he'd lost count.
He used it for everything—resetting bad battles, experimenting with dumb strategies, even doing challenge runs. Grass-only teams. No-items runs. Starter-only mode. Once he even tried a Nuzlocke-style self-imposed rule: any Pokémon that fainted had to be returned permanently to Professor Elm's lab.
He quit halfway through. His starter fainted to a random Bug Catcher with a crit.
Never again.
Over time, he picked up real battle knowledge—EVs, IVs, proper abilities, nature synergy. He even caught Pokémon he'd never normally use.
And yeah… he definitely cheesed the Gym Leaders when things got hard. Whitney, for example. Cute girl, but her Miltank?
Nightmare fuel.
Still, Ethan smirked to himself.
"Alright. Time to reset."
He activated the power—
And everything shook.
Glitchy sounds echoed through the void. Static buzzed in his ears. Fragments twisted unnaturally. The RESET wasn't smooth this time. It sputtered.
Cracks formed in the void itself.
"What the—?!"
The world around him trembled. The shimmering space that usually obeyed his commands… now refused to respond.
He stumbled, struggling to find stable ground as everything warped. His thoughts raced.
Red's warning.
A voice—deep and unfathomable—boomed around him:
"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE."
A blinding beam of light stabbed through the dark.
The broken world froze.
And then—he appeared.
A shape of overwhelming radiance. A creature from myth.
Arceus.
The Original One.
[Insert image of Arceus]
He stared down at Ethan—not like a kind god or a neutral force.
No.
He looked pissed.
Ethan stumbled back—though where exactly he was stepping, he had no idea. The space around him was void, a dream, a memory, or maybe just… divine nonsense.
Arceus stared at him.
Then Ethan felt it.
A sharp pain shot through his right arm, like it had been severed.
He gasped and looked down—but there was no blood. No wound. No cut. Nothing.
He looked up again.
Arceus was holding a star.
Or what looked like one. Radiant, pulsing, alive—and then, in a blink, it crumbled into glittering dust, scattering into the nothing around them.
The god exhaled.
"This," Arceus muttered with irritation, "is why I told Dialga not to give those powers to a mortal."
Ethan froze.
Then Arceus's form began to shift. His body lit up, swirling with energy—every type imaginable, a rainbow cyclone of raw primal force. The divine light dimmed, and a humanoid form emerged.
But… it wouldn't stay still.
One moment, Arceus was male. The next, female. Then their form mirrored their Pokémon self, cloaked in cosmic armor, eyes glowing like nebulae. Then fully human, wearing simple robes.
It was like reality couldn't decide what version of Arceus it wanted him to be.
Ethan gawked.
Finally, Arceus stilled—if only barely—and spoke with a calm, balanced voice that carried weight and warmth both.
"My apologies. I didn't mean to frighten you."
Ethan just stared, eyes wide, voice rising as panic took hold.
"Okay—what the hell!" he snapped. "What just happened?! What is this place?! What happened to my Power?! Why can't I reset?!"
His breathing grew heavier.
"Am I dead?! Is this, like, some divine timeout zone?! Did I glitch reality too hard?! Did I break something?!"
He paused, eyes darting. "No… no, wait, I should've felt the loop trigger—unless this is outside the system?! Is this the void?!"
His voice cracked. "Arceus—am I actually dead?!"
Arceus watched Ethan's meltdown with an unreadable expression. The shifting gendered form finally settled—temporarily—into something vaguely masculine. Calm, but ancient. Like an idea wearing skin.
"…You are not dead," Arceus finally said, his voice layered—like a choir of himself was speaking in perfect sync. "Though I admit… you are close."
Ethan froze. "Close?! What the hell does that mean?!"
Arceus gestured with a hand pulsing with energy. "Your power—the Loop, as you call it—was severed. Cleanly. Not by your own hand, not by time, not even by death."
He raised his other hand, forming a small, shimmering star in his palm—then crushed it to dust. "This was your Checkpoint. A tiny knot in time, anchored to your soul. Gone."
Ethan's expression dropped.
"Gone?! You can't just say 'gone' like you deleted my Google Drive! That was my safety net! My whole everything!"
Arceus tilted his head. "I am aware. That is why I intervened before your consciousness fragmented from the strain. I could not permit the child chosen by Celebi and watched by Dialga to unravel here."
Ethan gritted his teeth. "So what, you're just fixing me now? Gonna reboot the loop and throw me back in like nothing happened?"
Arceus said nothing at first.
Then:
"No."
A silence heavier than gravity fell.
"No?" Ethan echoed. "No?! Are you serious?! You're literally the god of Pokémon! You built the multiverse like it was a Saturday project—and you're telling me 'no'? Why?!"
Arceus looked at him with something that was not anger—but closer to sorrow.
"Because it is not just broken. It is corrupted."
Ethan blinked.
"…what?"
Arceus turned, and with a wave of his hand, the void around them shimmered. Fractured versions of Ethan's past moments played in the sky like broken glass—each loop, each death, each timeline snapped, cracked, burned, overwritten.
"You have pushed the system beyond its limits. The reset was never meant to be used… this many times. Not with such frequency. Not with such will."
Ethan stumbled back as he watched a version of himself get devoured by Giratina, another fall with a blade through his chest, another drown in black ichor, another vanish into Ultra Space—
"You broke the balance," Arceus said softly. "And the universe… adapted. It began rejecting your resets as foreign viruses. Your soul split, your checkpoints frayed. Even Celebi has stopped answering."
Ethan's voice was a whisper now. "You mean… I can't go back."
Arceus looked at him directly. "No. But you can still go forward."
Ethan swallowed. "Forward into what?"
And Arceus smiled—sadly, cryptically.
"…That depends entirely on who you choose to become without the crutch of eternity."
Ethan stood frozen.
At first, it was silent.
Then came the whisper, dry and cracked.
"…So… they're gone."
His voice trembled.
"My mom… Lyra… Falkner… Jasmine…"
He stumbled backward, clutching his hair.
"…Even that guy who always lost to me outside Goldenrod… that random person who gave me a Quick Claw…"
He let out a hollow laugh, bitter and broken.
"I remembered them. All of them. Every time. Every loop. I even gave some of them nicknames—'Bag Boy,' 'Sweater Grandpa'… they never knew me. But I knew them."
He looked up at Arceus now—eyes wide, veins in his neck tight, his face somewhere between rage and grief.
"And my team… My Pokémon—my family! You're telling me they're just—just memories now?! I raised them. I held them when they cried. I buried them when they fell. I named them!"
His voice cracked into a scream.
"Don't you get it?! They weren't code! They weren't data! They were real! To me, they were real!"
He dropped to his knees.
"I promised I'd protect them. That I'd come back. That if I messed up, I'd fix it. I always fixed it…"
Silence followed. He sat there, hands shaking, breath ragged.
"…but now I can't."
Tears dripped down, splashing against the blank void beneath him.
"I can't even say goodbye…"
Arceus approached—not as a god, but as something quieter now. Older. Still. Empathetic.
"No reset. No loop. No paradox can ever carry the full weight of memory," the deity said gently. "But know this: your grief is proof that they mattered. That they were real… even beyond you."
Ethan didn't look up. "Then why take them away…?"
Arceus knelt beside him.
"Because nothing can grow in a world that only loops. Not even you."
Ethan looked at them as he spoke. "So, what now!"
Arceus heard the Hollowness in his Tone, as he spoke. "A new world, I will give you will to spin from it, 4 to make you choose, and 1 wish to make a Bad Spin Better".
Ethan looked as he spoke. A new world hun.... And a wish, my wish, is for everyone from my Loop, to have a new life with a new me".
Arceus looked at him as he spoke. "Are you sure, you want that wish?".
Ethan looked at him as he spoke. "Yes".
There was a pause.
Even the divine winds around Arceus stilled.
That kind of silence—the kind that only comes when even gods are weighing the weight of a soul.
Arceus finally spoke, slowly.
"Then so it shall be."
Golden light pulsed outward in calm, concentric rings, not blinding—but warm. Gentle. Like sunlight after endless rain.
"Your world will spin anew. Four axes. One chosen path. One wish to anchor it."
Ethan stood still, expression unreadable. Not triumphant. Not relieved. Just tired.
"They won't remember me, will they?" he asked.
Arceus turned his gaze. "No. Not as you were. But something of you… will remain."
"Then that's enough."
His voice was quiet now, like someone closing a book after the final chapter.
"I don't need them to remember the pain. Or the resets. Or the deaths. I just want them to laugh again. To eat poképuffs in the park. To argue about type matchups. To live."
His hand clenched loosely.
"…Even if that means I carry the memory alone."
For the first time, Arceus bowed his head slightly.
"Then Ethan, Day Bringer of Johto… let the world remember you not as a glitch in time—
but as the flame that kept resetting it… until it burned bright enough to become real."
Suddenly, the golden void cracked open like glass—
And from it… four doors slowly rotated into view.
One burned like magma.
One shimmered like crystal.
One was carved of deep, ancient roots.
One sparkled with futuristic energy.
Arceus gestured.
"Spin your will. Choose your path. Begin again."
Ethan blinked, staring at the glowing doors before him.
"So... is there maybe a better way to do this than picking between four doors that might get me killed?"
Arceus paused, clearly thrown off. "...Well, yes. I mean, technically, but... are we going random now?"
Ethan frowned. "Random how?"
Arceus tilted his head slightly, as if trying to find the right reference.
"You know those shows where people spin giant wheels to decide their challenge? Or how much money they win? That kind of random."
Ethan squinted, then slowly nodded as the memories surfaced.
He remembered watching those kinds of shows during a few of the loops—mostly when he was stuck in Goldenrod and had nothing better to do. Whitney used to love them. She'd force him to watch, laughing at the dumb challenges and screaming at the screen when someone landed on a bad result.
One time, a guy spun a wheel and got the challenge: "Survive a Lopunny."
At first, Ethan had laughed. How bad could it be?
Then the Lopunny kicked the guy clean into a lake like a missile, and Ethan had flinched so hard he never looked at that species the same way again.
"Yeah," he muttered. "I know those shows
Arceus looked at him again, this time shifting into a female form—a habit by now, as if even Arceus couldn't decide on one body. "Since you know how it works... do you want to take the chance?"
Ethan stared at her for a moment before nodding. "Yeah... why not."
Arceus let out a sigh, their form morphing once more into something closer to their original Pokémon shape. "Very well. Just don't blame me for your luck."
(Author's Note: Each of these wheels was made before the story began—yes, even the world selection. The only thing not chosen randomly is the throne.)
In front of Ethan, three massive wheels materialized, floating in the void. Each one was covered in labels, spinning gently as if impatient.
The first read: "Pokémon" — featuring every starter Pokémon from across all generations.
The second: "Talent/Power" — ranging from things like Aura Control, Psychic Abilities, and Pokéball Crafting, to odd ones like "Always knows where berries grow."
And the third: "World" — a chaotic mix of titles from anime, manga, games, and more.
Arceus, now female again, crossed her arms. "Alright then. Spin. And again—don't come crying to me about your luck."
Ethan blinked. The weight of his previous pain and hollowness faded for a moment, replaced by pure confusion. But curiosity took over. He stepped up and tapped each wheel one at a time.
They began spinning wildly.
The Pokémon wheel landed on: Mudkip.
The Talent/Power wheel landed on: Dragon Force.
And finally, the World wheel landed on: Mixed Pokémon World – Hard Mode.
Ethan just stared at the results, blinking slowly. "...Wait. What's a 'Mixed Pokémon World – Hard Mode'?"
Arceus gave him a look full of ancient, divine pity. "Well... it means the world is a chaotic blend of all Pokémon canon—games, anime, manga, everything—merged into one timeline. Characters, events, and logic are all fused."
"And the 'Hard Mode' part?" Ethan asked, growing uneasy.
"Let's just say... Pokémon Red would be considered 'Normal Mode'," she said calmly. "And Radical Red? That's your 'Hard Mode.'"
Ethan's face twisted in confusion and growing dread. "Okay... but I'm still not fully—"
Arceus sighed and snapped her fingers. A flash of light engulfed him.
Knowledge poured into Ethan's mind. His eyes widened as the realization of what this world entailed hit him like a truck. The difficulty spikes. The busted mechanics. The fused timelines. The Gym Leaders with Champion-tier teams. The Level Caps.
He screamed.
"NO. No no no no no. PLEASE—let me spin the World Wheel again!" he shouted into the void, flailing in panic as Arceus watched him, sipping tea from nowhere.
Arceus looked at him with a shrug as they shifted back into a male form once again. "Yeah… sorry, kid. That's just your luck."
Ethan stood there, arms out, mouth open in shock. "No! Come on! Just one more spin! One more—just the world one!"
Arceus raised a brow. "You already got your bonus spin. And you said you were fine with it."
"That was before I knew it was a Mix World Hard Mode! What does that even mean?! Am I gonna get jumped by a Mega Garchomp with anime logic?!"
Arceus simply floated, unbothered. "Most likely. But hey, you got Mudkip. That's a win, right?"
Ethan deadpanned. "I am going to die."
"Probably," Arceus said with a cheerful smile.
Ethan dropped to his knees, staring blankly ahead. "Mom, I'm sorry. I should've just taken the doors."
Ethan looked at Arceus, deadpan. "So… how screwed am I?"
Arceus crossed his arms, thinking. "Well, let's see. You got dropped into a Mix World Hard Mode. Your talent is something called Dragon Force—"
Ethan raised a hand. "Still have no idea what that means."
"Right. Anyway, your starter is a Mudkip, who—once fully evolved—is legally classified as a tank. So… I'd say a solid eight out of ten on the screwed scale."
Ethan sighed heavily. "Cool. Love that for me. What now?"
Arceus shrugged. "Well… Dialga's probably not gonna be thrilled that I just yeeted his Chosen One across realities like a dodgeball, so let's try to even things out a bit."
He waved a hand, and a glowing wheel appeared beside them—decorated with sparkles, hearts, and unsettling implications.
"Spin the Wheel of Soulmate. Whoever it lands on will be your eternal partner and, hopefully, the one peaceful thing in all this madness."
Ethan blinked slowly. "Of course there's a Wheel of Soulmate," he muttered, dragging himself to it. "At this point, I've officially given up on logic."
He spun the wheel.
It whirled with a magical chime and landed on… Harem.
There was silence.
Arceus blinked.
Ethan blinked.
"…So, I guess this is where all of your luck went," Arceus said dryly.
Ethan narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Arceus said too quickly. "Good luck with the yanderes."
Arceus waved his hand, and a glowing golden door appeared, etched with runes and swirling with multicolored energy.
He turned to Ethan and spoke, voice calm but amused.
"Walk through this door, and your new life awaits. Once you step through, the reset begins—new world, new chance, new you."
Ethan stared at the door, then at Arceus, raising an eyebrow. "And the… Harem thing?"
Arceus gave a nonchalant shrug. "Ah, yes. That. It means you can have multiple soulmates. Girls will be more… naturally drawn to you. Emotionally, spiritually, even romantically. You won't have to chase them—they'll come to you."
Ethan just stared.
Arceus added with a smirk, "Though I'd recommend not saying that out loud unless you want to get punched."
"…This sounds less like a blessing and more like a future court case waiting to happen."
"Oh, it absolutely is both," Arceus said, grinning. "But hey, free love, stronger bonds, potential emotional support network—what's not to like?"
Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose. "Right. Of course. Just throw me into hell with a team of emotionally unstable soulmates. Nothing could possibly go wrong."
Arceus opened the door with a flourish. "Good luck, Soulbound Harem Protagonist. May your Mudkip be sturdy and your relationships… survivable."
Ethan sighed one last time, stepped toward the door, and muttered,
"Here's to hoping I don't die from love this time."
Then he walked through.
To be continued
By All the Gods, this was one long Ch
3261 words I won't be writing this long of a Ch again, unless it's a Volume end