CHAPTER ONE: Prologue: Reversal of Roles
A/N: Hello guys! Yes I'm still alive. And with a new story to boot.
As you probably are all familiar with, 95% of stories about Pokemorphs are about how they were mistreated and alienated from society, or how people were forcefully experimented on (by Team Rocket or some other psychopathic group) and turned into morphs. Well I want to do something a little different. Say the Pokemorphs are the bad guys for once. What if they had all but crushed humanity under their foot, paw, or other appendage? What would life as a surviving human be like? What challenges would he face? But I digress... Anyway, this story is set in the real world (yes, our world), and is inspired by Johto Gunner004's "Humanity's Last Hope." Hope you guys enjoy reading it.
Life's about choices; each one having consequences. Sometimes the consequence is good, other times bad; but it's very hard to see what the consequence will be until after the choice is made. In this case, our ancestors made a bad choice, and humanity as a whole suffered for it.
The year is 2042, and humanity lives in shambles of its former glory. All because of our ancestor's ignorance. But perhaps that's getting ahead of myself. I'll start from the beginning.
Sometime during the 13th century, creatures known as Pokemorphs were discovered on Earth by English farmers. These creatures had the appearance of a pokemon, but were also similar to humans in many regards, most notably the fact that they were bipedal and spoke in human languages. Though peaceful creatures by nature, they were feared as monsters and many were slain by knights of the time. Many morphs died because people assumed instead of rationalizing and as a result, bitter seeds were sown between the human race and Pokemorphs.
In the beginning of the 18th century, people changed tactics against the Morphs and instead chose to isolate the them from human settlements altogether. They kept them in fenced "preserves" on unwanted scraps of land away from civilization with little food or fresh water, further widening the rift between Pokemorphs and humanity as many morphs died from dehydration, hunger, or disease.
Upon the discovery of the New World, many settlers took Pokemorphs as slaves and forced them to build homes and fortifications and to work in the fields. The enslavement of Pokemorphs by the European settlers and later Americans continued in the United States until the end of the Civil War in which all slavery was barred across the nation. However, Morphs were still considered grossly inferior by the general public, and the mistreatment continued until the First World War when an important discovery was made.
Leaders of the Axis Powers of WWI quickly realized the potential Morphs had as soldiers and began forcing them to fight for their cause. They had more specialized senses according to their species and knew the same moves as their pokemon counterparts—only weaker. Upon this monumental discovery, the allies began equipping their soldiers with a variety of pokemon to help defend against the threat. However, it was soon realized that carrying pokemon with soldiers just wasn't enough. Although pokemon moves proved vastly superior to Morph moves in combat, Morphs didn't have to have their commands relayed to them to fight, giving them an upper-hand provided they weren't injured by the initial attack.
The Allies quickly made the decision to offer the Morphs equal treatment in exchange for fighting for their cause. The morphs hastily agreed, and were quickly added to human regiments to supplement the Allies' forces. Many such morphs ended up killed in action, but many others gained fame and recognition as soldiers, greatly boosting the public image of the creatures.
At the end of the World Wars, Morphs were treated better, but "equality" between humans and Pokemorphs wouldn't come until the 1970s when activists, both human and Morph demanded full rights for Pokemorphs. The movement swept across the world and by 1977, morphs were desegregated from humans completely. For the first time since their discovery, equality between the two races had been achieved and it seemed like it would last forever, but it didn't last.
Sometime around the year 1998, a group of Pokemorphs began to wonder why they were living among "inferior lifeforms" like humans and pokemon. Humans didn't have their ability to use pokemon attacks or (in some cases) improved senses or intelligence. And Pokemon couldn't do many of the things Pokemorphs could do with their human characteristics. Why should they have to share a planet with such "inferior beings"?
The idea spread rapidly among the Pokemorph community, but world leaders dismissed it as "youthful and meaningless propaganda", saying that it would blow over with time. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. Morphs began moving away from the human cities en mass and starting their own Morph-only towns across the world. The mass-move out should have been a sign to the world of an impending crisis, but once again, world leaders dismissed it and in fact some encouraged it.
In the year 2002, Morph cities secretly began forming militias. When Russian counter-espionage agents alerted the world of this, the UN denounced the Pokemorphs' forming of private militias in secrecy and threatened action, but the Pokemorphs continued to raise their own militias. After issuing repeated warnings to the Morphs, the United States of America made a move to stop the morphs and issued Order 4626 in November of 2005 telling the Pokemorphs in America to disband their militias within 90 days or risk military action.
Just as it seemed that Order 4626 would work, several civil rights groups filed a joint-suit against the US government claiming that the Pokemorphs had a right to form their own militias since they were just "protecting their homes". After a calamitous debate in the Supreme Court, he rights' groups won the suit, and Order 4626 was repealed just 40 days after being issued. Upon the repealment of Order 4626, Pokemorphs rejoiced and stopped the disarmament and dismantling of their militias. But the fact that they were threatened with military action also caused them as a whole to build up their militias even faster. Distrust between the two races was now at an all-time high.
Then for the next six years, tension between the Pokemorphs and humans seemed to be moved to the back burner. Despite the fact that the Pokemorphs were still building up their military equipment, the media—and thus, the public—grew numb to this threat. A threat that was greater than anyone imagined. Under the guise of festive conventions, some radical Pokemorph leaders on the Eurasian continent secretly planned to lead a unified attempt to overthrow the world's human governments (Article #66A2V709. US GOV'T ARCHIVES. Declassified: 18 May, 2014.). When conservative Pokemorph leaders attempted to warn the world of what the radical leaders were planning, panic ensued, and the world economy fell into a recession at the end of 2012 (Article #66A2V708. US GOV'T ARCHIVES. Declassified 18 May, 2014.).
Once again, the impending conflict with the Pokemorphs were forced to the back burner as world leaders tried to revive the death-spiraling economy. However, the recession deepened despite the world's best efforts.
Seeing that their chance for attack had come, the Pokemorphs, who made up a substantial portion of the overall life on earth and led by their radical leaders, finally made their move in Asia, attacking on Christmas Day, 2013 with lethal efficiency. Though slightly anticipated by many countries of the world, the attack came as a complete surprise on one of the world's most widely celebrated holidays. The pokemorphs quickly overran a substantial portion of the continent, with the main force driving from the Gulf of Thailand through western China and Kazakhstan as far as Moscow in a matter of 3 weeks. Though the force probably was only around 150,000 strong, the besieged countries didn't anticipate the morphs in their own cities siding with the uprising. The morphs in the cities cut communication lines, disabled roads, scrambled or stole missile silo codes, and destroyed railways and airport runways, severely limiting the countries' ability to counterattack.
The radical morphs quickly established an HQ in a massive morph-only megalopolis south of the captured Chinese city, Urumqi. While the UN held one emergency meeting after another on what to do with the uprising, the surviving armies of the attacked Asian nations struggled to counterattack against the radical morphs, who were rapidly gaining support from their kin, but were increasing in their weapon manufacturing as well. However, continued guerrilla warfare by the morphs loyal to the radical cause greatly hampered human forces.
Over the next thirty-some years, the Morph Army destroyed almost every human country, leaving the survivors for dead. For the most part, only scattered resistance groups comprised of humans and morphs who didn't side with the radical alliance remain. Though the Morph Army has taken much of the world, large areas of conflict still remain, some areas the size of whole countries. Talk about a reversal of roles. We now live in poverty-stricken, bombed-out buildings that the Morphs left behind, while they live in comfort in the cities they built up form the ruins of our hopes and dreams. They don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from. They get to drink clean water instead of this brackish stuff we are forced to drink. They keep pokemon as pets and keep a few "lucky" humans as slaves. They actually have healthcare systems, while disease runs rampant through our settlements. It often seems like it is only a matter of time before we fall prey to either starvation, disease, or eachother.
My name is Jim Matthews. I'm one of the many people and pokemon who live in the ruins of Marthas Vineyard Island, Massachusetts of what is formerly the United States. I'm 16, and one of the few who actually have family members left. I live in a world where you are always looking over your shoulder. People will mug you for a simple loaf of bread or a bottle of fresh water where I live. As that implies, teamwork is very scarce, but I can testify that it does exist although it's very much survival of the fittest here. I'm also one of the few who is brave enough to venture into the nearby Pokemorph cities on the mainland for supplies. I've had more than my share of close calls just picking things out of the trash, nevermind actually swiping something from the Morphs (I've done that too)! But I'm still alive, that's the important thing.
And as long as there's life there's hope...
A/N: Doesn't sound too good for humanity, does it? Next chapter introduces Jim Matthews.