Why do pokémon, super-powered monsters take orders from humans? Why do the criminal leaders never just shoot the ten year old who destroys their empire, when technology is centuries beyond our world? Why does no-one worry when young children go off and recruit temperamental animals capable of destroying cities?
Most of all, why hasn't pokemon society imploded on itself yet, with hundreds of ridiculously powerful monsters within every mile of the planet, huge criminal syndicates, ridicously advanced technology and ninety percent of the population obsessed with pokémon training?
Inhumanity is looking in a mirror and seeing the impossible, terrible, and unnatural stare back. After all, what would demons fear and respect but a monster?
The rating is for language, mentions of self-harm, and non-descriptive violence. Dark, but not excessively.
Disclaimer: I do not own the pokemon franchise. If I did, there would be a lot more emphasis on world building, plot, and character development... maybe it's a good thing I don't own.
The exhausted silence after the battle wrenches Red's brain.
He... won?
Even though- Giovanni, and, and the battle had been brutal and as far from glorious as he could comprehend-
"Indulge me," Giovanni states languidly, and Red can hear the smirk that has no right, never, after that, to be there. But his fatigue and relief prevent him from moving, his damn condition prevents him from speech.
And Giovanni, with an ease and speed only available to the greatly practiced, pulls a gun out of his tuxedo and shoots Red twice, once in the head, once over his heart.
The bullets bounce off.
"I thought as much," Giovanni remarks calmly, as Red tries to realign what just happened with reality. The one where bullets and guns kill unprotected, normal kids with only a talent for pokemon battling and a sense of justice.
Red jerks around to face Giovanni's last mocking call:
"Do try not to waste my little present."
Blue feels inadequate. Red shines, and Blue can appreciate that, and he can also appreciate how Red admires and respects his knowledge of pokemon and goal of being a pokemon researcher. But why does Red always have to shine over him?
His grandfather considers Red his grandson, prefers him, praises him in the same breath as scolding Blue.
He defeated more than five times as many Rocket grunts in Saffron city, discovered the takeover of Silph, cleaned out the building of criminals to the barest, weak reserves. And yet, Red walked in and defeated him, and went on and defeated the Rocket leader. All the attention, all the glory. All the black market bounties, unbelievably high and never to be fulfilled.
In the end, as Red takes the title of champion away from him in the hour he earned it, Blue knows. While Red is the Sun, centre of the world, Blue is merely the moon, basking in reflected glory.
Blue accepts it, moves on with his life, becoming great and earning the respect of his grandfather- after a tirade explaining his grievances, of course.
And as he visits Cerulean cave every day, and in the end convinces Mewtwo that some humans are in fact worth not killing and even interacting with, Blue smiles in a new realization.
Though the moon may only shine with the sun's light, and orbits the earth in third for priority, the moon creates tides.
The moon is responsible for life.
If Red is the sun and Blue the moon, Green is the earth.
For one, she is the only pokedex holder to ever complete it for one region, much less all the places she's visited.
For another, she can honestly call all the legendaries of five regions her friends.
It bothers her- nothing acts real around her, but- isn't what she should want?
When they were very young, for years Red, Green, and Blue were inseparable. Blue would introduce a topic and provide information, Green would coolly strategize, and Red would execute the plan. And then Blue grew jealous of Red, and in their heated battle Green was pushed to the side and gradually forgotten.
Why does she want the days in which plans failed and people got hurt? Jirachi's promise- perfection-
So when Green walks in Viridian Gym door to obtain her final Kanto badge, Blue looks up, and first apologizes, then asks Green if she has done anything interesting on her journey.
She laughs bitterly, tells her companion Mew to de-transform (it loves her but mostly is just waiting as the only one who can for a chance to break the curse), and sends out one of her pokemon that she rotates through.
And she orders the hydreigon to use hyper beam on her.
When the smoke clears and Green is unharmed, Blue is grinning and ready to battle.
When she beats him, Blue in all seriousness asks Green to marry him.
She responds by punching him. He's still important to her, after all this time- she won't let him be sacrificed for her- effect.
Archer looks on, somewhat uncomfortable but appropriately silent at such an event. Despite how much it somehow incapacitated the opponent, he truly hadn't intended on killing the rather beautiful noctowl. After all, it was almost impossible to intentionally kill a pokemon- it was an unforeseeable event.
Finally, he turns to leave the grieving boy in peace, but is interrupted by the high note all too familiar to him of a pokemon evolving.
The boy now stares at him with burning hatred in his eyes, a previously fainted eevee now an umbreon awake and furious.
"You killed him," he whispers.
Archer doesn't say anything. Despite the disgraceful fuss the boy was making, what was done was done. He hadn't intended to kill the bird, but neither did he regret its death. To say anything is a lie.
"You killed him!" The child screams, sending out the rest of his pokemon. "Murderer! I'll kill you! You will regret this! You will! YOU WILL!"
Seeing the pupitar also evolve, into a tyrannitar, Archer finds himself agreeing. Unfortunately, the boy is currently too emotional to allow his surrender.
Even a machine gun wouldn't make the boy- Gold - stop now.
In his remaining moments, Archer muses that he never did like the pokemon masters that would pass through his hometown.
The night is dark and Silver is lost, though he has his sneasel out to protect him.
Why did he- because Crystal trounced him, Gold saw and took the opportunity to accost him for 'stealing' and so he ran. And now he couldn't find the damn centre for the damn fainted golbat.
"Sneasel, use-" and he looks up at the screaming signal from his sixth sense.
A Rocket. With a gun, and a knife, and drunk.
"Laddy," he slurs, and oh shit sneasel's boxed in "you look, lookie, like, like, trainer."
The man fumbles getting out the gun, but then points it at sneasel rock steadily.
"Give me all your money," he says, act of drunkenness gone, "and your pokemon."
"I don't have any money," which is actually true, since wages as a trainer are tracked and his name is that of a criminal thanks to Gold.
"Like hell you don't, that thing is good," and he's not backing down and pulling the trigger-
Silver moves faster than he ever thought possible, yanks out the knife and slits the Rocket's throat before the safety catch is finished clicking up.
He stands there for a moment, the man's blood ruining his shirt, before looking back at Sneasel.
"I wasn't going to let him kill you," he protests Sneasel's shock.
Golbat does have the strength to fly him to the pokemon centre at Sneasel's stolen Sitrus berry.
Crystal fears Suicune.
Nobody else knows this. For the longest time, Crystal didn't tell anyone else, and nobody bothered to consider that it might be a possibility.
After, Eusine had spent his life chasing Suicune. He deserved it, but she was just so special she got chosen anyway.
Never mind her terror as Suicune stood feet away, huge and hostile and staring at her, the roaring winds and tackling leaps leaving her with bruises in the morning. Never mind that it wanted something from her, and she didn't know and wasn't doing it and the beast was disappointed.
The kimono girls had been almost worse, trapped strangely in all locations across Johto, so proud and excited to meet her in their serene demeanor. They had known before she had obtained the silver wing, the rainbow wing, had given her the bell in total certainty.
And then she had summoned Lugia, summoned Ho-oh, seen the satisfaction in Suicune's eyes.
But why did no-one ever bother to explain anything? Is it really so… obvious? Crystal is no-one special, but others have decided she is.
There was a time when Ruby cared what his father thought of him. That desire died the day he and Sapphire, mere children, summoned Rayquaza to stop Kyogre and Groudon, the gym leaders nowhere in sight.
Norman told his sceptical son endlessly about the virtues of a true man, repeating again and again how he expected his son to be the most manly and macho and then everyone would respect him, and respect Norman even more for raising him so well.
Ruby liked his mother's stories better. Mostly because they were sequential.
Everyone else he asked said the person they respected most was Clair, and some of them Lance. If he further asked if they were 'manly' and 'macho', people would laugh.
Apparently it was an insult to call people macho if they 'respected women'. He was also taught about male chauvinism, which was interesting, but not very logical. He got cookies and brownies, though, so he kept coming back and listening and asking questions.
The 'macho' portion was logical, though, and the more Ruby thought about it, the more he realized why. His dad's stories had a lot of striding places and kicking open doors and cussing out idiots and resorting to violence on little provocation that was usually deserved. His mother's stories solved problems, with wit and cleverness and respecting other people.
His father was still his father, though, so while he didn't play with girls and their pretty dollies, he was never rude to them. Apparently this was not enough for his father, and he needed to teach other people 'their place'. This was not logical at all, because if everyone knew their place in a queue nobody would get their lunch since moving up in line was changing your place.
His father's last words to him when they left for Hoenn was he 'could make a better start'.
He was not very happy about Sapphire, which was not only illogical but stupid.
Norman hated contests, calling them 'girly wastes of time', despite the fact they were genuinely beautiful. Perhaps because they were beautiful.
And then, Ruby and Sapphire as team Emerald stopped the legendaries and saved the world while his father hid away in his gym.
Ruby snapped when his father called him, to say that he was proud of him, but wished he hadn't depended on a vulnerable girl, dragging her into danger. Sapphire was always the strong one, the hero. Just because she was female, he was writing her off as useless!
Ruby loves the 'girly' stuff, loves the contests his father mocks.
Because as the world shimmers and glitters and flames around him, he can pretend that there is no ugliness left in the world, and Sapphire can always protect everyone else.
Sapphire hates being called the childish name 'May'. The name itself is fine, and she doesn't dislike her parents, but that's not who she is anymore. May is a child, innocent and carefree and selfish and selfless at the same time. Sapphire isn't a child, and resents May's parents' attempts to treat her as such. There is no place for her among the mother's unnecessary and pointless lectures, the father's inaccurate teasing and demeaning jokes.
Sapphire is Champion and saviour of Hoenn, who travelled in parallel with Ruby, defeated eco-terrorists and gym leaders with the same ease, rode her salamence up Rayquaza's tower. She makes sure to carve out some time, to visit Kyogre and Groudon and Rayquaza, either as Sapphire or Emerald.
And therefore, her time is her own and Ruby's, and she likes burying herself in duties as champion and researching pokemon. Her parents' commands mean nothing to her anymore, scoffs at their displeasure and concern.
'May' is dead, gone for the greater good.
It's simple.
So why won't anyone else acknowledge that, when they do Ruby?
The world sings for Pearl.
Well, not exactly for him, and its more of a symphony than singing, but-
When dear Platinum went into the Distortion World, Pearl was only a few minutes behind; enough to witness Dialga and Palkia chained, Giratina appear. He even stared into the portal as it closed, though he's pretty sure Platinum didn't see him.
What he does know is that with Cyrus gone, Palkia could break through the red chains with Dialga distracting the lake trio. And the remnants of the spatial rend were heading straight towards Diamond, who had his back turned protecting the lake trio.
It wasn't a conscious decision to leap in front of the attack; in fact it was probably due to mental manipulation.
But he survived, his clothes torn to shreds and his body greatly cut up and twisted but still alive. Diamond thought he was delirious when he kept asking where the music was coming from and to turn it off.
The music used to scare him, since he heard it all the time and would change for every person and pokemon he encountered. But now, especially since it isn't obstructive, Pearl finds it beautiful.
After all, he hears the symphony of the universe.
That's worth taking Palkia's rage.
There is never enough time, and what does exist is precious.
Diamond knows he's not the best at communicating, and not genius enough to make up for it, but that's not too difficult an idea. After all, he thought of it himself.
But it seems like the only other one who understands is Platinum. Everyone else is constantly telling him to slow down, waste his time on unimportant things. And, okay, he's gotten in trouble for rushing off before- he still cringes about the pokedex incident.
But no matter how much he rushes, he's always too little, too late. At Verity, at Acuity, at the Spear Pillar, he's always behind Platinum, although she does go forward. And he knows she's not ready either, no matter how talented, quick she is.
So Diamond compromises by clearing the way for Platinum, and making absolutely certain not to ever waste time he could use productively. But it almost seems to make things worse.
Nobody else notices, and it worries him a bit how little effect it had, but before Spear Pillar, he hadn't slept for a week. Although now he kind of wishes he had slept a bit, because he battles better on a night's sleep, and maybe then he could have helped Platinum in Distortion World.
The world is perfect, and people are imperfect. Or the world is imperfect, and people are perfect. Perhaps even both are imperfect, or both are perfect but clash badly.
Platinum can't tell, but she is aware of the question, ever since traversing Distortion World.
Distortion World was… wrong, but Platinum thought it was perfect in a way ninety degrees removed from the real world. But for that place, Platinum, and other humans were definitely imperfect, although Cyrus seemed alright.
Giratina is unique, because it is always perfect, no matter where or what it might be. People, perfect they may be, tend to be stupid about what was out of their comfort zones, and thus lie to make their hatred acceptable. Children are better- still learning about the world, most haven't yet formed a 'comfort zone' and thus see things clearly.
After her experience, on the Spear Pillar, Platinum can't stop thinking about perfection. Dialga, Palkia, Giratina- all of them deal with matter in it most fundamental, important, perfect form. And they chose her, Giratina trusted her while fighting madness, focusing on their fight instead of rage and betrayal. Therefore, Platinum can rationalize that she has some element of the perfection they embody.
It is an arrogant idea, but strangely supported. Platinum works hard, of course, but nowhere near as hard as Pearl, and for a miniscule time compared to the Elite Four and Champion. It's one of the reasons she refuses to become Champion, despite defeating Cynthia four times out of five.
Wonderful Cynthia, who supports her, make sure she isn't lost to the perfection that has plagued her since standing before all three of the creation trio, backed by the lake trio.
Platinum looks out at the world and sees glory and greatness and executed perfection, for all that the world is filled with misery and destruction. Life- glows, is the only way to put it, with an ethereal light; Platinum can see why Arceus would make it, despite everything the creation trio would preserve it, if this is what they see.
Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie all agree when asked that it is Platinum's natural heritage in combination with contamination from too much time with legendary beings.
Cheren loves his two best friends, White and Bianca. He would do anything for them. Become a gym leader to cover for Bianca's inability to utilize her incredible skills, White's constant absence and growing inhumanity.
In the end, it's unimportant what he sacrifices, (bleeding from a hundred wounds from a thousand stabs when the shadow triad desperately frees Ghestis) as long as the most important two are there.
So when Black comes before him, innocent and happy and hopeful, Cheren does not tell him what to expect, how to avoid his destiny. He smiles and pushes Kyurem's chosen forward, fully aware of his choice, what others would consider utter immorality. (You would subject a child to the disease you so hate in White for some company for her on the glorified deathbed?)
Cheren's fellow gym leaders really don't understand him, although everyone harbors affection for all others in their band of glorious elite misfits and societal rejects. They don't even know that (whispers in his head, greatness following in White's wake) he can't not do absolutely anything he is capable of for his two beloved friends, Bianca and White.
So if it helps White, who is he to deny a child what he wants?
Bianca is as good a trainer as either White or Cheren, and she knows it.
But the way the world is set up, she will only ever be punished for acting like, being strong. Any strength she has must be subtle, or supportive- invisible.
And if you can't act strong, it's the same as being weak, no matter your accomplishments or pokemon.
So when she sends off Black with his first pokemon, she feels only hopelessness, because a new legend has begun and she will never be respected. She won't ever be more than an insignificant name in White's pain-born legend.
But no matter what, she still feels pride when the knife bounces off her wrist. Some laws, some expressions of quality supersede all others.
N finds it hard to acknowledge the choices, path, decisions he craved as the man, boy who had awakened Reshiram.
Without fear, N had traversed a wall opening into a hall of divine flame, returning victorious and without so much as a singe on his clothes or hair. And he had done it secure, righteous in the belief that it was merely his devotion to pokemon liberation that gave him passage. People had misunderstood him most of the time back then- releasing all pokemon and banning them from humans was not an ideal future world, but pokemon abuse was-is an undeniable, unacceptable truth.
Looking back now, he snorts at his younger naiveté and idiocy- determination, desire, knowledge itself does not give you power or ability. Only your decisions can do that, and choices require sacrifice.
He had been a blind fool as well, disregarding all truths but the most limited, extreme of injustice.
Acknowledging the concept of 'truth' was only the least component of his trial. The larger part is a truth N has always lived by, for all that he spent fifteen years unknowing, a year of journey denying.
He's connected to Reshiram, more completely than any other pokemon can imagine. Fire can't hurt him. But a searing flame is nothing compared to the agony of an innocent child learning the truth of a world in which they are simply unimportant.
N can't ignore or forget or fail his knowledge; all others' truths that he has learned, unpleasant or unacceptable and most often unchangable. It's the price of claiming an absolute truth, a perfect concept.
Perfect understanding. Of every possible truth the world holds.
Sometimes he wonders how much more he will learn before he goes insane from others' hopes and despair.
Where N is crushed under the weight of the world, White is free. Perfectly free. Without any kind of constraints, bonds, or boundaries. Including the ties of friendship, obligations of a enjoyable job, limits of behaviour as so not to disrupt another's world.
She flies around endlessly on Zekrom's back, changing corrupt systems, bringing others the freedom they deserve and unknowingly crave.
White knows she is not human anymore, because humans do not live legends, only create them.
Sometimes, less often than she would like, although she never seeks him out, she sees N. They talk, exchange stories, reasons, methods, and White can find solid ground again in her head and hands. She listens, and can't remember a word he says and every message is emblazoned on her soul. But before too long, the huge presence entwined around every thought (she chose this) forces her away, forward.
After all, eternal freedom does mean that you can never again choose.
But White does have just a little more she may do. She stops N's beautiful voice, kisses him, and steps backwards off the cliff.
For as long as she can, White revels in the sensation of being bound, ordered by something other than herself. But as the ground finally rises to meet her, she sighs and sends out her dragon.
Her body will never fail her as long as she herself does not fail.
Black isn't stupid or unobservant.
He can see the way that White only had eyes for him when she visited a year ago and how N couldn't look him in the eyes at all, Cheren's fake smile, Bianca's horrified pity.
He saw it, but he didn't understand it.
When Ghestis captures Kyurem, and merges it with Reshiram, Black's head is splitting, and N, connected far longer is incapacitated on the ground. He still doesn't understand when he notes N's smile of pure joy.
And then he does understand, when he finally captures Kyurem and the world bows and N and White call him brother.
He's supposed to be the hero of balance, but all he feels is lost and abandoned, his head going in endless circles without rest or comfort.
Author's Note:
In the pokemon verse, almost every problem the criminal groups have would be solved with a single gun. And we know they exist in the anime, so why wouldn't they use them in the darker games? Ghestis was planning on killing N after defeating the protagonist, and if anything that guy is realistic, so why doesn't he just pull a gun out of those robes and shoot two tired kids with weak pokemon down?
And then I thought, what if 'pokemon make people stronger' was literal? The connection with pokemon creates an energy transfer that makes both stronger in a symbiotic relationship?
Furthermore, I don't think you can have a mental bond with a philosophic concept without a few side effects.
This was originally supposed to be each game character experiencing their heightened capabilities, but it changed into more of a character development style after I wrote the first one about Red. I still tried to keep an impossible or highly dangerous feat in each one:
Red/Gen 1 Player- bullet bounces off
Blue/Gen 1 Rival- withstands Mewtwo's attempts to kill him
Green/Gen 1 Female Player- Mary Sue deconstruction, brainwashing and aware of it
Gold/Gen 2 Male Player- triggering evolution, Archer's comment
Silver/Gen 2 Rival- speed, covers a few yards in a fraction of a second
Crystal/Gen 2 Female Player- 'chosen one' deconstruction
Ruby/Gen 3 Male Player- pokemon attacks on his skin
Sapphire/Gen 3 Female Rival- flew on an animal through a storm
Diamond/Gen 4 Rival- Doesn't sleep for a week
Pearl/Gen 4 Male Professor Assistant- Takes a matter recombinant beam
Platinum/Gen 4 Female Player- … legendary radiation poisoning?
Cheren- Shadow Triad's attacks don't kill him
Bianca- can't cut herself with a knife
N- walked through a sheet of flame
White/Gen 5 Female Player (White 1)- hits a pokemon back at two hundred metres per second
Black/Gen 5 Male Player (Black 2)- mind being used in tug of war