"In the unknown reaches of time, strange and wondrous creatures appeared on this planet. We call them Pokémon. Over the years, countless varieties of Pokémon developed. Researches have identified hundreds of different types, but many more are yet to be discovered.
Many tales have been passed down of the extraordinary adventures we humans shared with our Pokémon friends. There have been conflicts, too, but over the ages we learned to live together in harmony.
And so the story continues...
Today, there are heroes who collect Pokémon, and train hard in battle. Some of them even dream of becoming Pokémon Masters. It is an exciting journey, but full of challenges, too. Being a trainer requires dedication and spirit. This road can certainly be long and difficult, but those who travel it will find many friends along the way.
Together, humans and Pokémon will carry on the story, facing new challenges, and sharing new adventures that will become the tales of tomorrow. But even tomorrow's stories may have started long ago, like this tale, which begins in the legendary past... before Pokéballs ever existed... "
----- Lucario and The Mystery of Mew
There is an old story told in the archaic town of Rota; about a time long before Pokéballs had been invented. In that place, it is celebrated as a fable which explains how two warring armies were brought to a standstill after a miraculous turn of events. It is told to children in every home. Every year its characters are brought to life in the traditional festival and costume ball, and sometimes even portrayed with choreographed re-enactments of the scenes by those dedicated in keeping the story alive. But it is surprising just how few people nowadays actually believe it in its entirety. For them, it may as well be a fabrication thought up decades later - Sir Aaron may have very well existed, but did not command the kind of legendary powers described. For those people, it is easy to forget just how real those times were. In a way, they were more real then today...
As it has been told, vicious armies swarmed the land constantly; battling for supremacy and the acres of territory which came with it. Both human and Pokémon rose up in arms and brutally slaughtered anything and everything that stood in their way. Every day, castles were taken; sometimes the queen and all her subjects would be exiled simply to prove a point... if they weren't just killed on the spot. The Queens of each teritory would mostly refuse to leave their people, and would be martyed in the process when the army leaders slaughtered them. But how long their martyrdom would be remembered would depend on whether any of the Queen's subjects would survive...
It was the hundred-year war. And whilst the Red and Green armies inexplicably subsided after their initial clash at Rota, the birthplace of Sir Aaron, and went away with peace in their hearts never to do battle again, there were many more armies spreading across the continents in their neverending quest for land rights. There was Blue, carrying on the Green army's ideology, savage and heartless in their actions. Skirmishing against each other to the West were the Gold and Silver armies.
And of course, the Black and White armies, the only two to ever form a tentative alliance, and send out a small force of their members to the south. They came from a land never discovered by any other army. Had anyone actually stumbled across the region where the Black and White lived, they would not have lived. The Black and White were the most savage, the most heartless and battle proven... and land-hungry. The small band were a highly trained group of humans and Pokémon, hunting for more land to own.
They wanted a place which they could dominate as much as they had dominated their previous home. They wanted a place where they would never go hungry, thirsty; a place they could protect to the best of their bloodthirsty abilities should any other army come snooping around with the same goal in mind.
Unfortunately for them, they found Minami instead...
~~~
This story is not like the story of Sir Aaron and his heroic deeds. It does not bring warmth to the heart upon hearing it. But still, it must be told. It is the legacy of all Minami people who live here today, even though most do not know it.
The story starts with a Pokémon. At first glance it would seem it is the only one of its kind anywhere in the world. For the moment, it sleeps, nestled comfortably in the crook of two tree branches, until the first rays of sunlight filter down through the leaves onto its body. Then it stirs, and wakes; blinking. It sits up and stretches, yawning. It is the start of a brand new, beautiful day.
~~~
The White and Black delegates churn through the water; their Pokémon fitted with the same armour as what they wear. Dozens of snarling Lapras, their spiky shells painted white and black with the symbol of both armies, swim furiously. Mid-fin-stroke, one bends its neck to the water in a lightning fast motion and swipes a wriggling Remoraid from the surf. Within seconds the slippery mouthful is down its throat, and, refreshed, the Lapras regains its original speed.
These are not the peaceful Lapras we know of today, of course; these Pokémon are from the time Magikarp resembled its evolution's form and temperament much more closely. These are savage times, and both human and Pokémon reflect the fact. The Lapras look forward to subduing whatever challenge they may find on the grey smudge in the distance as much as their human masters do.
~~~
After a breakfast consisting of berries and fresh, cool water from the stream nearby, the Pokémon is ready to start its daily duties. Its responsibility is to protect Minami at all costs; it has known this for aeons. The beginning of its existence is shrouded in a forgotten memory - as far as it is concerned it has always existed.
For such a small Pokémon it would be impossible to guard all of Minami physically at the same time. Luckily, it has been gifted with a wondrous power which makes its responsibility possible. Scrambling back up the tree it first awoke from, the Pokémon finds a secure spot and closes its eyes, bringing its hands to its chest. Its antennae rise and begin to subtly vibrate. Suddenly, in its mind, an image appears of its surroundings. The Pokémon pushes its power outwards, and watches as the image similarly flows outwards in a circular direction.
All is well. The bright spots of blue light all around it indicating so much life give it great joy. Its awareness reaches the beaches and cliffs of the outer edges of Minami and then fades. Content, the Pokémon rests for a moment then sends out another wave of Aura. Like the previous, it displays the location of all the land's creatures. Unlike a few moments ago there is a flicker at the end of the wave - something appearing just at the edge.
Instantly, the Pokémon sends out a direct sweep straight towards the location, and watches as a creature comes into view, now standing still on the beach. It has never seen it before in its life... and yet somehow knows it is a human. Curious, and wary, it sends its awareness further out over the water. A few, then dozens, then hundreds of pinpoints of life spark into being, all travelling towards the beach. For the first time, the Pokémon is afraid.
The first of White army to arrive stands on the beach, a feeling of savage achievement in his chest. Behind him, its fins rotating and sweeping powerfully to keep itself from being beached, his Lapras waits. The man draws his sword, holding it up in two hands, then turning it and bringing its point down into the sand in one swift motion.
The humans close enough to witness this ritualistic claim to the land yell a battle cry, jumping into the shallow surf and running onto the sand to stand by his side.
"This is a good land." one says. "Clean of the stench of war and death."
"There stands a large forest before us. See, the trees are almost too close together for us to get through it." the man replies. "But look there, a river - for now we will see where it leads. Perhaps there will be clearings as well."
All nod. The man grabs his sword and strides back to his impatient Lapras. "We will wait." he says to the others as they also rejoin their mounts. "My wife has yet to arrive." They stand silent on the beach, waiting, as the rest of the Black and White armies arrive. Soon enough his wife, of Black army, riding her battle-scarred Gyarados, reaches them. With her are two young children, a girl and a boy.
~~~
The Pokémon watches tensely as the humans and their Pokémon travel down the river. They reach the larger lake when the river broadens, and the humans once again take to the land on foot. They enter the other forest and begin slashing a path through the dense undergrowth with their weapons. Unknowing, they are coming closer to the Pokémon and the tree it shelters upon with every step they take.
Soon enough, there is no reason for the second sight. The Pokémon releases Aura and opens its eyes, hearing the harsh cries of the humans. It looks down from its high vantage point and sees them come into view, armoured in white and black plates of metal. They crowd into the glade, clustering around the edge, their heads craning upwards as they size up the tree.
One steps forward. "This is perfect, a natural camp site."
"Not quite perfect," argues another. "The tree is in the way." Unlike the others, she is carrying not a sword but a staff, a large red crystal embedded in the top. It clinks prettily as she brings it forward and gestures towards the trunk. "Fire is with me!"
The crystal blazes with light. The light shoots out and zaps towards the ground, where it forms a luminescent form of a Pokémon. Soon, the light disappears, uncovering the graceful form of a Ninetales. "Khon!" it barks, and without urging enfolds the tree in a powerful blast of fire from its mouth.
It is the end, and the beginning. From high above them, something screams pure rage and pain. The tree itself seems to scream as all of a sudden green light begins cascading down from where the trunk splits into branches, and flickers down as green flame to meet Ninetales's fire. The green energy collects there and then blazes out in a circular direction. Not the soothing green light spoken about in Cameron Palace even today as a result of Sir Aaron's heroism, no; there are many different kinds of cleansing power, and this kind cleanses through sheer annihilation.
There is a pause. The tree, its trunk blackened, loses its green light. The Pokémon looks down and sees the army literally reduced to ash... besides three who still survive: the boy, the girl, and the Ninetales, now clustered together in shock. Not tall enough to be struck by the thin circular blast. It climbs down to face them, just as in shock as they are.
"You have killed my master." the Ninetales says. "By right of war I am yours to command now."
War? What is war? I do not wish to command you. says the Pokémon. You are free, to go where you wish and do what you wish.
The Ninetales fixes its deep gaze upon the Pokémon and says, "In that case, I curse you for killing my master, I curse the boy and girl human for pulling at my tails in their young age when I was forbidden to harm them, and I curse myself for killing so many in the course of my life." It swishes a separate tail for each curse. Behind it, the two children's eyes roll back into their heads and they collapse onto the dewy grass in a deep slumber.
A sleeping curse? the Pokémon asks.
"No, the curse is in the awakening." explains the Ninetales. "They are but children, so I will take a little pity on them. It is not a killing curse; but perhaps they will wish themselves dead soon enough."
And mine? Yours?
"Both far more subtle," the Ninetales replies, a vicious smile appearing on its long muzzle. "but no less powerful. I am a Ninetales, my curses are of the highest standard. All of us will not know the details of our own personal curses until they are brought into effect." With that, it turns and bounds away gracefully, disappearing through the trees.
The Pokémon looks long and hard at the human children, telling itself they can not stay in this place. Touching both their arms gently it concentrates. The three forms flicker, then disappear.
They reappear many miles away to the north, on a small island the White and Black armies had ignored. There the Pokémon leaves them, retreating back to its tree. After the day's events it harbours no love for humans, no matter their age. What the Pokémon doesn't know yet is that soon, come the rise of the moon, the girl child of Black army will awaken as a creature of the night; human no more. And her brother, the same - born of the next day's sunrise to a form nothing like that of a human. Both with no memories of ever being human, but eternally harbouring the greed that can only come from the heart of a human...
~~~
The two young humans were of course not the only ones cursed that day. The Ninetales had cursed herself in guilt. Pokémon are never bad... it is only their masters who are; and those masters sometimes use their Pokémon to do bad things. The Ninetales's self-inflicted curse would not manifest for a very long time... save for just one symptom. Its fur fell out, leaving it shaking cold and deeply ashamed one night in the forest as it curled in a tree's hollow, then regrew in the deepest shade of blue; its skinny hairless tails once more sprouting thick.
Curses work in a variety of ways - this new fur was a sign of worse things to come. The Ninetales wondered whether any of her kind had ever been cursed before... as opposed to being the ones doing all the cursing. She pondered whether or not she was now the opposite of her sisters and brothers, different, separate. It was then that she chose a name for herself: Ninetales became Sela, and Sela would be trapped on Minami for a very long time before another chain of events ensured her escape.
But that is another story for another time...
