Ominous, dark clouds swirled overhead, lightning crackling in small yellow arcs between them. Everywhere else within sight was clear and sunny with only a few woolly clouds scattered across the light-blue sky.
"Finish it, Feather: Thunder."
A tiny Pikachu- marked as female by the slight indentation in her tail- let out a cry, and shot a single, slim current of electricity into the clouds. A moment later a torrent of lightning exploded down onto the opposing Pokémon- a massive Aggron- with an ear-splitting crack of thunder, defeating it in a single blow.
Feather chirped happily, and then scampered back to her trainer, ready to receive praise. The black-clad boy whispered a few words to his Pikachu, then rose and called out to his opponent as Feather hopped onto his shoulder.
"I refuse to battle any further. You claim that that was your best Pokémon? You claim that you're worth my time? Then why was Feather able to summon the thunderstorm and knock it out without taking a single hit? You disgust me. Go heal your Pokémon before I decide to have my Pokémon attack you."
Nineteen year old Jacob "Sparks" Shephard turned and walked away from his disgruntled opponent, a scowl slashing its way across his sunlight-deprived face. A completely forgettable face, unless it was pasted on the front page of the papers and brought up in the news every day now. "The champion of the Pokémon League" and "the one-man detective squad". He snorted in disgust at the very thought of doing anything for people- it was the Pokémon he had saved, not the humans.
Feather whispered a warning in his ear as he was pulling up the deep hood of one of the only things he would wear, a black, full-body cloak: there was a person approaching from behind.
"Aren't you a happy camper? 'Go heal your Pokémon before I decide to have my Pokémon attack you.'" A voice said. Sparks turned around, to see a girl his age, clad in black in blue. The color of bruises. An intimidating, yet somewhat tender, look was permanently on her face. An Emolga was perched on her shoulder.
"If it's a battle you're looking for, I'd be more than happy to wipe the floor with that thing you call a Pokémon," Sparks replied with an undertone of venom. He glared at the girl, his dark eyes -the black plague- threatening to infect her. She looked away. She was intimidated.
"I wasn't looking for a battle. I was merely looking for some sort of conflict, since I'm bored. You looked like the perfect target. But we can battle, sure. Zeus!" The Emolga flew off her shoulder, and landed gracefully on the grass in the middle of the two trainers with a small thud.
Sparks could not quite wrap his finger around it, but he knew, he just knew there was something about this Emolga. It had that vibe Champion Lance's Dragonite gave off when he fought it, the same vibe Feather had. But he brushed it aside like dust on his shoulder. Just his thoughts messing with him, he thought.
"Fine then. Feather, you're up!" Feather jumped from her trainer's shoulder and landed on the ground in front of Zeus.
"Zeus, start with D-"
"Hold it right there, you two." a gravely, yet kind, voice from behind them said, and the Emolga stopped immediately. It was too bad, Sparks thought. He almost wanted to see how the Emolga battled. Almost.
The voice belonged to a man with spiky grey hair and steel rings around his arms. Sparks had never seen him before, and, judging from her expression, the girl didn't either.
"And... who the hell are you?" the girl asked, sneering at the newcomer. This could get interesting, he thought.
"That doesn't matter now. What does is I have in my hand two letters... one for each of you. It's a lucky coincidence I found you two together.
"What are you implying?" the girl said, stepping forward in an attempt to intimidate the man. He simply chuckled.
"Ah, Miss Liz Sparrow. No need to fly off the handle so quickly. You really should learn to just relax, stop being so suspicious. And you know what they say about assuming. Hahaha." He approached the two, giving them a letter each, as promised.
Sparks looked at the return address. "The Pokémon League." His eyes widened, as he tore into it. What could they possibly want? He unfolded the letter, and began to read:
"Greetings, trainer.
You have been selected for recruitment to the Pokemon League's PPA ( Pokémon Protection Agency), an internationally government-run organization of elite trainers. The International Police, G-men, Team Galactic, and Team Plasma are just a few of the branches included in the PPA. The agent delivering this letter will explain in greater detail of the programs we have, including the branch that you have been recruited for.
Sincerely,
The Pokémon League"
"Team Rocket? This is a invitation to Team Rocket! But I thought Red already got rid of them a few years ago! And who's this Team Plasma? It sounds suspicious," Liz said, and she was right.
"It's a long story, you see," the man began, "you might want to sit, this will take a while."
(line)
Close to sixty years ago, the Pokémon League was founded so that the new hobby known as "Pokémon battling" would be more organized and started with the invention of the Poké Ball. Many people known as "Pokémon trainers" started in it, curious and amused at the thought of people commanding Pokémon in a new way of bonding: battling. Pokémon, of course, did not object to the idea; they saw battles as a sort of playtime and a way to become stronger.
However, problems arose in the Pokémon League: criminals rose up, and decided that the new Poké Balls would be a great weapon to use in conjunction with the Pokémon they could hold. It was easily concealable, and along with the experience from battling, they decided they would be unstoppable. And so, The Shades were born, ruthlessly using man-made weapons and Pokémon to perform massive act of murder and theft. The directors of the Pokémon League feared global catastrophe and sent out a plea to all the trainers who had challenged the league to help them quash the uprising threat.
With the combined power of the united trainers, the Pokémon League was able to arrest many of the ring-leaders of The Shades, with very few of the gangsters remaining outside of custody. The trainers worked so well that the League decided to keep them on, forming a secret police: the PPA. The strongest trainers had risen to the top during the battle against The Shades, showing the Pokémon League how effective this method of selection could be.
Decades later, when the PPA had enough members, several branches formed, including the likes of Team Rocket. Every so often, the PPA would send out Team Rocket to do faked acts of villainy, returning everything to its rightful place after the test was done. The theory was that the strongest trainers would rise up and defeat the team., and the theory was proven when the trainers Red, Blue and Green rose up to beat Team Rocket, and then went on to challenge the Pokémon League and, in turn, be recruited into the PPA. Their success was noted and the PPA went global, creating Teams Aqua, Magma, Galactic and Plasma. The Pokémon Protection Agency has now grown to be the largest organization in the world, also branching into the G-Men and the International Police, as well as many other groups whose goal is to prevent crime.
(line)
"Well, that's pretty overwhelming. I don't even know where to start," Liz started, her Emolga playing in her hair. "How about you get back to me on the question thing? I don't even know where to start..."
"Well, that's fine by me. You know where to contact me. Wait.." Steven's voice trailed off.
"What is that thing!"
Before Liz had time to react, she was out.