A/N: So, while trying to get inspired for WSI, I decided to try my hand at creating my own Pokémon Region, Pokémon included… I'm trying to get the pictures I made up but I have to draw them by hand and take the pictures on my phone then email them to myself and, thus far, my phone isn't cooperating.
So!
Enjoy!
Tell me what you think!
(FANART MOST WELCOME!)
(KUDOS TO AMALATHEALUCHIAAIZEN FOR HER ASSISTENCE IN THIS ATTEMPT)
Vocab/PokéDex at bottom
Pokémon: Amethyst
Prologue
The world begins as a dark gray fog. There is not determined light source, but it is easily enough to see. The fog slowly drifts away, and leaves behind what seems to be a room in what looks like a laboratory. There's a silver table with a strange sphere that had an off-white button in the center of a seem that neatly bisected it, separating the red top half from the white bottom half.
Before more could be distinguished, a woman tripped into the room with a startled yelp, her tangerine-color hair covering her face as she sprawled on the ground in front of the table.
"For crying out loud," she complained, sitting up on her knees and fighting with her messy hair. She was wearing a knee-length white lab coat, over a pair of purple slacks and an orange blouse and, as she managed to shove her hair back into order, she peered upward with sheepish-looking blue eyes out of a relatively pretty, lightly-tanned face.
"Heh, heh!" She laughed embarrassedly, one of her hands going to the back of her neck as the other waved in the air in front of her. "I'm sorry you had to see that!" she apologized sheepishly. "I'm always so clumsy! Heh, heh!" She pushed herself up to her feet, smiling as she dusted herself off. "Anyways, my name is Daisy Evergreen, the Head Assistant here at Shore Town Laboratory, but everyone just calls me Daisy! You're here to see the Professor, right?" The scientist grinned brightly. "That'll be Professor Rose Evergreen, my wife. She's just sorting out a few new Trainers, getting them their Starter Pokémon, but she'll be back soon, so why don't I start explaining things until she gets here, okay?" She grinned again, and made a 'follow me' gesture, before turning and going around the chrome table, rifling in its drawers before pulling out a map. On the map was an image of a large island, with the far north covered in mountains with three specifically taller mountains. The rest of the island was covered in forests, each one a slightly different shade of green, and a massive river nearly bisected the entire thing. There was a peninsula made of what seemed to be two different deserts, and three smaller islands. A large volcano rested at the tip of the peninsula, and a smaller volcano claimed one of the smaller islands. There were two lakes, one on either side of the island, and a large beach on one side. There were markings for cities, towns, and other important places, and all were neatly labeled in smooth, curving cursive.
"Welcome to the Hoseki Region!" Daisy chirped, before tapping the smaller lake, where there was a small mark naming a town. "We're here, at Shore Town, whose biggest exports are mussels and Leppa Berries. This is where my wife and I call home." She smiled brightly. "And now, you do too, which is always nice! Anyways, here in the Hoseki Region, there are fantastical creatures called Pokémon… Here, I'll show you!" She leaned forward and picked up the strange orb from before, holding it out. "This is a Pokéball, a devise used to catch and keep wild Pokémon. There are different ones made for specific Pokémon, but we'll get to that later. This is the most common, so it's best to start simple." Still smiling, the Assistant pressed the button; the Pokéball opened with a gleaming, bright red light, which shot out towards the top of the table, and took shape. When the red light disappeared, a strange-looking creature was sitting there.
It was a large, pale-brown squirrel, covered in dark brown spots, two of which encircled its bright orange eyes, which were peering around curiously, it's large, white teeth chattering softly, making 'irrel' sounds.
"This is Spotirrel, and he's a normal-type Pokémon… Ah, I'll leave that explanation for another time, it's kind of time consuming, heh, heh!" Daisy dragged a hand through her hair, grinning sheepishly, before another woman stepped into the room with a deep chuckle. The newcomer was nearly six-foot tall, wearing three-inch red heels that probably helped. She was wearing an ankle-length white lab coat, over a purple blouse and black slacks. Her hair was a rose-pink, don up in a massive, well-maintained afro, and stood out spectacularly against her dark, deep-brown skin, her eyes a paler brown as she smiled at Daisy with fond affection.
"I see you started without me," she said, amused, as Daisy just smiled up at her. The newcomer reached forward and absently dragged a hand down the Spotirrel's back, making the Pokémon purr happily. Then the taller woman turned and focused on the task at hand, smiling warmly.
"My name is Professor Rose Evergreen, and I am the Pokémon Expert and Researcher of the Hoseki Region. Everyone just calls me Professor, or Professor Evergreen, though," she introduced herself easily. "It's nice to meet you… Amethyst, right? Amethyst Tachibana? You just moved here with your father, Jett, a week ago, from one of the outlying islands, didn't you? That's a long ways away, you know. Well, welcome to Hoseki! As my lovely Assistant was explaining, before I arrived," here, she paused, and shot an affectionate smile to Daisy, and absently wrapped an around her shoulder, pulling the much shorter woman close for a comfortable hug. "Pokémon are a plentiful creature here on Hoseki. Subtracting the more common breeds, which can usually be found in all the larger Regions, there are a total of one hundred and fifty Pokémon that can only be found here. Because of this, there are multiple organizations and laws created to make it so Pokémon and Humans can live together in Harmony." Here, the two women smiled warmly, before they became serious.
"But, where there's harmony, there's discord as well," Daisy intoned solemnly; Professor Evergreen nodded seriously, frowning.
"There are two groups of people, specifically, who are causing such discord," she said, lips pursed in disapproval. "One group is calling itself Team Luxury, led by a woman known as Captain Tiara Diamond. They believe that Pokémon are meant to be pets, animals created for human entertainment. They've developed a so called training devise, which has been brainwashing Pokémon into acting no-more intelligent that a particularly slow dog or cat. The other group is called Team Grim, and is led by a man named Shade Bloodstone, and they are the near opposite of Team Luxury. They firmly believe that Pokémon are not weapons, but tools, made to be used for the betterment of Humankind, and not in a nice way. Their own training has forced normally calm and docile Pokémon, to be vicious and cruel, and their illegal Pokémon Fighting Rings are to the death."
"Neither Team is good for Hoseki as a whole," Daisy interrupts with a severe frown. "And, to make things even worse, both Teams have taken to theft, arson, and even worse acts just to collect more Pokémon! Grr, it just makes me so mad!" She stomped her foot angrily, and pulled away from the Professor, scooping the quietly sitting Spotirrel up from the table and cuddling the confusedly chirping Pokémon close, stroking its spotted fur gently as she tried to calm herself. Professor Evergreen watched her with sympathetic eyes, reaching up and ruffling her beautiful afro.
"All things said, these aren't the only groups in Hoseki," she reassured gently. "There is the League, which is a Region-wide competition, carefully organized. There are several qualifications a Trainer must have in order to be considered for the position of Hoseki Region Champion. The first step is to get registered as a participating member at the nearest Pokémon Center, which is like a Hospital for Pokémon," she explained quickly, while Daisy seemed to have finally gotten her emotions under control, and was nodding along.
"After they're registered," the Assistant continued the explanation, "the Trainer travels around the Region, and has to go through several specific cities, and have a refereed Pokémon Battle with carefully selected men and women called Gym Leaders, and, if the Trainer wins, the Gym Leader is required to give a Gym-Specific Badge. The Trainer's job is to collect all eight Badges, which will put them in the running for the Hoseki League Coliseum, which is where all those Trainers who have also gathered their eight Badges." Here, the Professor once more spoke up.
"After that, the winning Trainer has their Pokémon healed, before they fight the Elite Four, who are four incredibly powerful Pokémon Trainers, approved by the League. Between each Battle, the Trainers Pokémon aren't healed, so it's a really difficult Battle for most. If the Trainer beats all of the Elite, their Pokémon are healed before they fight the Champion, who is the accepted strongest Pokémon Trainer in the Region."
"The one who beats the Champion," Daisy interrupted as Professor Evergreen reached over for the Pokéball and re-called Spotirrel, "will become the new Champion of the Region and get five hundred thousand Pokédollars and the job of returning to the League for every Challenger that makes the cut." The Professor smiled and once again wrapped her arm around her wife's shoulder.
"Of course, there are other organizations as well," she reminded kindly; Daisy nodded cheerfully.
"Daycares, where you can leave your Pokémon to get trained, though sometimes you wind up with a Pokémon Egg for your troubles!" she laughed.
"There are Contests," Professor Evergreen added easily, "where you can try your hand as a Pokémon Coordinator and show off your Pokémon in fantastical ways. Then there are smaller events, like Pokémon Festivals, Pokémon Fashion, all sorts of fun things!" The two women smiled, before blinking, surprised, and looking at one another.
"A rescue center?" Professor Evergreen asked, looking back with a thought look. "No, I don't think there's one of those… I mean, Officer Jenny will confiscate abused or abandoned Pokémon, but they're usually healed at the nearest Pokémon Center and released… I've never heard of anything like a Pokémon Rescue Center before…" Daisy shook her head with a thoughtful frown, before her face lit up.
"Maybe that's what you can do, Amethyst!" She cried, beaming. "You can try your hand at the League, and, if you win, can use the prize money to make your own Pokémon Rescue Center!" The Professor looked pleased as well, smiling.
"And money you earn on the Journey could be put to that as well! What a wonderful idea." The two women smiled warmly, before an alarm started blaring in the distance. "Ah, that's our cue to go!" The Professor announced, and smiled sheepishly. "A recently donated Wyvagon hasn't been settling well. I hope to see you in a few weeks for your Starter Pokémon! Good luck, Amethyst!" She called, before running off with a distracted wave. Daisy giggled, and waved as well, before following after the Professor. Just as she leaves the room, however, she trips with a loud thump!
"For crying out loud!" Her voice echoed out as the door closed. The room slowly fades away, until the same misty gray from before has consumed it. Then, slowly, even that fades to black.
The Story Begins.
A/N: Ta-da! What do you guys think?
Vocab/PokéDex/Q&A:
Hoseki – Japanese for Precious Jewel. Every landmark (forests, seas, rivers, mountains, etcetera) is named after a precious jewel, and the cities are named based off of jewels as well. Towns are typically named based off environments/placements.
Professor Evergreen & Wife – I did this because it hasn't been done before. There will be nothing explicit about their relationship, they are just a married couple in Pokémon, calm yourselves.
Spotirrel – The Spotted Squirrel Pokémon. Type: Normal. Height: 2 feet. Weight: 5 lbs. Ability: Frisk, Fur Coat, or Cheek Pouch. Evolution: N/A PokéDex Entry: Spotirrel is a curious Pokémon, and can often be found carrying items it has picked up off the ground. These Pokémon are some of the most common Pokémon in the Hoseki Region, found in large numbers within the plentiful forests.
Amethyst Tachibana – She's named after the Amethyst Stone, and Tachibana means Wild Orange in Japanese, and is a common last name (according to the website I got it from)
Team Luxury & Grim were named by AmaltheaLuchiaAizen with my thanks.
Review to Vote on Amethyst's Starter: Water, Fire, or Grass?
