Three things to note before we get started with the story:

1. For the purposes of this fanfic, "Green" is the male and "Blue" is the female.

2. This fic contains some mild swearing, but nothing worse than you'd see in a rated-PG movie.

3. I kind of assume that the reader has already played the original Pokemon Sun and Moon. Spoilers abound for that game, and I give very little exposition about what happened then.

Pokemon Civilization, Book 1: Tales From Across The Ocean

Part 1: The Science Of Spirit

Chapter 1

She looked across the sea, stretching across as far as the eye could see. What was it like at the bottom of the sea, she wondered? Would she ever get to there on her journey? So lost was she in thought, that she barely noticed that the boat lurched and sent the book she was reading flying onto the floor.

"Are you done reading, dear?" a voice said.

Lillie blinked her eyes, trying to understand what she just heard. Then she saw that History Of The Entire World A.C.E. was on the floor and jumped, hurrying to pick it up.

Lusamine, who was sitting on the other end of the wooden table, giggled. "You've always been a good reader. Why don't you tell me about what that book's about?"

"Um…" Lillie knew that her mother was was trying to distract her from her nervousness, but she had dozed off quite a while ago and didn't like being put on the spot so suddenly. "I only read a bit.. It started out with when humans first came out of the bunkers and met mew, the genetic ancestor of all pokemon, and the mew helped them rebuild their society and clean up the nuclear waste. Mother, I know so little about Kanto, how am I going to do this?

Lillie's thoughts were interrupted when she heard what sounded like a stampede out in the hallway.

"What's going on out there?" Lillie asked, understandably startled by the noise.

"I… have no idea," Lusamine answered. "Let's go find out." She started walking over to the door of their room, but before she could get there, she lost her balance and stumbled a bit.

"Mom!" Lillie exclaimed, running over to catch her. "You need to be careful! You know that you haven't been quite right since what happened in the wormhole!"

"I know.. I know," Lusamine said, getting back on her feet. "I better watch my step on the way to Bill's place."

Suddenly, a lightbulb lit up in Lillie's head. Bill… Bill… Bill… "Bill Salchicha?"

Lusamine blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Bill W. Salchicha," Lillie explained, "the author of History Of The Entire World A.C.E. Do you think it's the same guy?"

"Um… no," Lusamine said. "The Bill we're seeing is younger. He's not a historian, he's more of a science guy."

"Oh," was all Lillie could say, so Lusamine opened up the door, and they beheld a hallway crowded with people trying to get to the door at the end of the hallway.

"Land ho!" cried an old sailor, swaggering past their door, when suddenly he eyed the mother and daughter and the Poke Balls in their bags. "Hey! I like feisty kids like you!" he said.

Lillie, taken off guard, reached for her Poke Ball and looked inside. All I have is this vulpix that Professor Oak gave me, she thought. And I've never used it in battle before now.

Luckily for her, Lusamine stepped in; though she was still weak from her time in Ultra Space, she made her best attempt and her previous commanding composure. "She's a brand new trainer; it wouldn't be a fair match-up against an experienced sea dog such as you," she pointed out. "But if you're just raring to go, I can be your opponent."

The old man laughed! "I like your spirit, sweet thing! You're on! Machoke, go!"

He flung his Poke Ball and out came the hulking blue man itself.

"Say Mom," Lille said, grinning, "that Pokemon kind of looks like Professor Kukui, but with even less clothes!"

Lusamine burst out laughing. "Lillie! That is actually pretty funny! Sun is rubbing off on you. Alright, stand back. Go, Clefable!"

Lillie moved back automatically while continuing to grin. She had never had someone laugh at something she said before- it was an odd feeling, but a good one. It was especially odd to see her mother reacting this way, when she so rarely had humourous impulses.

By the time she had processed this, the battle was over; Machoke had been blasted backwards in the front wall, smashing the lamp on the bedside table. Lusamine's clefable posed proudly.

"My sincere apologies!" Lusamine exclaimed, as the old sailor simply laughed. "I'll pay for the damages."

"Don't worry about it!" he said. "It happens all the time, that's why we put those el cheapo lamps in the rooms!"

"Lillie," Lusamine said suddenly, turning to Lillie. "I hope you didn't have any possessions in there…"

"I'm good," said Lillie. "I already put everything up into my bag."

"I'll tell you what," said the sailor, as both he and Lusamine returned their Pokemon. "If you have a mother with that kind of strength, you're bound to be something special!"

"Oh, don't say that," muttered Lillie, as the sailor laughed, and her mother, managing to smile, led them both out the door..

So Lusamine and Lillie made their way through the crowd, dodging families and chatty old people.

"I've never seen so many people in my life!" said Lillie, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"It'll be okay," said Lusamine. "Just stay near me!"

"Say, mom," said Lillie questioningly, "are the people here kind of strange?"

"Oh, I suppose so," said Lusamine absentmindedly. "Say, who did you say we were meeting here again?" she said as they awkwardly had to walk on either side of an old couple who were in deep conversation.

"Oh," said Lillie as they shoved their way through the door to the outside, "we're meeting a lady who works for Professor Oak's cousin. She has long brown hair, and usually wears a skirt and a white hat."

"Oh, what the hell is this?" Lusamine said suddenly, looking annoyed.

Startled, Lillie strained to see what Lusamine was looking at; she saw a huge crowd of people on the dock yelling and waving signs.

"Do you see any brown haired women?" Lillie asked.

"Not yet.. But get a load of this! They're saying to people getting off the boat, 'If you're riding on the S.S. Anne, you the support the disruption of aquatic wildlife.' As someone who was the head of a major environmental organization, I can attest that merely driving a boat over the surface of the water does not disrupt wildlife in any significant way!"

"Well, please mother," responded Lillie, worried about her mother over-exerting herself. "Don't start a scene!"

However, at that moment, Lillie saw someone pushing their way through the crowd. She heard someone in the crowd say, "Move out of my way! They're with me!"

And from the crowd emerged a woman who, as Lillie described, wore a white hat with a red arc on it, and had long brown hair. However, she was wearing a dress around her wide hips, with a white top and blue poke-ball pattern bottom.

"You two must be the ones sent by Samson Oak," she said, looking peeved about something. "Come on, let's get out of this crowd, then we'll make proper introductions."

"Good idea, my mom's gonna blow a gasket soon!" said Lillie, noting her mother's furious expression at being accused of 'harassment.'

So they followed her through the crowd. They got many funny looks, which made Lillie wish she could jump into the water and swim away. But the crowd oddly seemed to part for them. Finally, they reached the end of the dock and stepped onto land. They appeared to be at the edge of town: Lillie could see some tall grass and a cave entrance to her right.

"Anyways…" the brunette lady said, stopping suddenly and turning around. She seemed to be trying to regain her composure. "My name is Blue, and you've taken your first step into Kanto!"

"Hi," said Lillie, "my name is Lillie!"

"Yes, I figured," Blue said, putting her hands to her hips. "You match the description the Professor gave me. And this is your.. Err, older sister?"

"You're very sweet," Lusamine said, smirking. "I'm Lusamine, Lillie's mother.

"Oh!" said Blue, looking surprised. "Lusamine Aether? I've heard of you, but I didn't imagine you being so young."

"Hardly," Lusamine replied. "I'm over 40."

"Wow!" said Blue, looking even more surprised. "I hope I look like that when I'm 40! Anyways, both of you, welcome to Vermillion City and to the Kanto region! We'd better get out of the sun- I'll take you to where we're staying the night."

So they set off through the city. It was an unusual city- there were a lot of hotels and restaurants dispersed among what looked like normal houses.

"You guys came from Alola, right?" asked Blue. "You probably passed my husband and our long time friend halfway there. They're going to Alola to celebrate the creation of Alola's Pokemon League."

"And they left you behind?" Lusamine inquired.

"Well… yeah," Blue said. "I know there's a lot of people who would've loved to see me there, but I had some business to take care of here. Anyways, my husband, his name is..."

Lillie only passively listened to their conversation, as she was curious about the city. There were all sorts of places that inspired her imagination; elaborate houses along the shore, and inns and hotels with big signs out in front.

"Where are we going to stay?" Asked Lillie suddenly, eyeing a tourist-y hotel right next to a water park.

"I'm taking you to the Vermillion City Tourist Bureau," Blue replied. "It's across the road from the Pokemon Center. It took forever to get that thing built; but that old man did it eventually. And then, right afterwards, he died."

"Oh," said Lillie. "At least he accomplished his life's dream."

"Yeah… sorry for being morbid," Blue explained as they passed by a building with a sign that read "Pokemon Gym." "It's been a long day."

"I can imagine why," said Lusamine sympathetically. "What was with that crowd at the harbor? Nothing they said made any sense to me."

"Ah, I should explain," Blue began. "Now isn't the greatest time to make a trip to Kanto. In the past few years, we've had a lot of growth in business. However, some corporations have been doing things that are… well, a little bit ethically questionable. Like using rivers as a place to dispose of chemicals, and disrupting wild Pokemon."

"Yes, I've heard about some of the issues here in Kanto," Lusamine replied. "But what does that have to do with the S.S. Anne?"

"I'm getting there," Blue said, directing them through a crowded market area which reminded Lillie of Konikoni City. "So, naturally Red, Green and I were kind of bothered by this, so we've been trying to do what we can. Green tried to use his power as gym leader to get the League to do something about it. But they didn't want to hear it- they didn't want to do anything that might disrupt our economic prosperity. So we're now organizing rallies to help raise awareness."

"So, is that what the people were there for?" Lusamine asked.

"No!" exclaimed Blue, stopping suddenly in front of a blue building. "They are just people with too much time on their hands. The Vermillion Harbor hasn't done anything wrong that I know of."

Lillie couldn't help but to laugh. "So, there's all this actual work being done, and these people are just trying to cause trouble?"

"Essentially," Blue replied. "And THAT'S why I've been pissy today. Anyways, while I was babbling on, we arrived at the Bureau."

Not having realized that, Lillie looked up at the building. It had a sort of faux-"old sea shack" feel; there was a carved wooden sign hanging above the door. It was a nice aesthetic, Lillie thought.

After moving in, Lillie agreed to go with Blue as the sun was setting to begin her training. Other than being their tour guide on the way to Bill's, Blue specifically was sent to help Lillie take her first steps to being a trainer. Lusamine stayed behind in their room to rest.

Lillie was nervous as they walked out onto Route 6. "So we're supposed to wander around in tall grass until we're attacked by wild pokemon, and then then we beat them up?"

"Yeah, that's right!" said Blue, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Us trainers called it 'grinding.' It's like eating your vegetables; it may not always be fun, but if you don't do it, your Pokemon won't grow up to be big and strong."

"But what if I beat every single pokemon on the route, and then try and find more, but nobody comes?" asked Lillie, who was picturing walking through a completely empty and lifeless route after having slaughtered everything in her path.

"I guarantee you, that will never happen," said Blue, shaking her head. "Pokemon bounce back from battles way easier than humans do. If you beat a wild spearow, it'll flee and probably be fit as a fiddle after like 30 minutes of rest. So trust me, you will never beat so many wild pokemon so that nobody will come, nor will you even beat enough to have a noticeable impact on the ecosystem."

As implausible as this sounded, it did match up from what Lillie observed from her time with Sun and Moon in Alola; the wild pokemon didn't seem affected no matter how much they battled. Also, Blue clearly had experience with this and seemed generally sympathetic to wildlife, so she didn't ask any more questions.

"I have pokemon on me, so if you get overwhelmed I can come in and back you up," Blue explained. "Don't feel the need to go sprinting away; that's an easy way to lose a lot of money."

Lillie made sure that the pouch her money was in was secured in her bag, and then pulled out her vulpix.

"What Pokemon did you get?" asked Blue, but as she came closer she stopped and gasped at it. "No way? Where'd you get that vulpix?"

"Um… from Professor Oak."

"But it's white!"

"It's a regional variation," explained Lillie. "All the vulpix in Alola look like this."

"Well well well, that's very interesting!" said Blue, who started pacing back and forth and chewing on her lip. "Vulpix are usually red… and May swore she once saw one that was yellow… but now I've found one that is white… what a privilege to get to see something like that without leaving Kanto! And it's because… they evolve differently… hmmm…."

"When will my training begin?" said Lillie, who had noticed that the sun was now behind the trees.

Blue suddenly made a 180-degree turn. "Calm your t- I mean, uh, give me a minute, I need to do something real quick." She reached into her bag and pulled out a pokedex, flipping it open and pressing buttons furiously. "This'll only take a minute… I wish I had one of those Rotom pokedexes so I didn't have to type so much, it hurts my fingers."

"Oh, you know about the RotomDex?" asked Lillie.

"Yeah, I heard about it through word of mouth. That Professor Kukui… he's quite a character, isn't he?"

"Yeah, you can say that again," said Lillie. "I had the experience of staying in his lab for a few weeks. He kept on breaking things around the house because he got too excited with his rockruff, and he went around shirtless constantly."

"Oh.. I bet you enjoyed that," said Blue mischievously as she finished typing and put her pokedex away.

"No, I didn't, actually, at all," replied Lillie, who had been frequently put off by Professor Kukui's style of dress.

"Ah.. Didn't mean to make assumptions," Blue said, as if she was surprised at herself. "I've been spending too much time around… Anyways, let's go ahead and get started. Go ahead and prepare your vulpix."

"I'm ready," said Lillie, who had been holding her vulpix in her hand for the past few minutes. She creeped towards the tall grass cautiously… what she was doing felt insane, it went against who she had been for most of her life, but knowing that she had backup if things went wrong, she stepped in.

It wasn't long before a pokemon appeared in front of her- she recognized it as a pidgey. While pidgey didn't look scary at all back when Sun and Moon were plowing through them with impunity, now it looked remarkably menacing to her.

"Don't hesitate! Meet them head on with your own pokemon!" Blue shouted encouragingly from outside of the tall grass.

So Lillie sent Vulpix into the fray. Vulpix shook a bit to get used to being out of his ball.

Lillie had no idea what moves he knew, so she said, "um… show me what you got!"

Even weirder than giving it a command was seeing it carried out: Vulpix wound himself up and shot from his tails and mouth a flurry of snow, battering the Pidgey.

"Wow! It's an ice type! That's about as different as you can get from normal vulpix!" Blue said, reaching back for her pokedex to update her entry.

But the pidgey was not out; it sprung back its feet and charged Vulpix, knocking him backwards.

Lillie was horrified at the sight of her vulpix crumpled up on the ground; he got hurt, she thought. I can't believe I did this to him…

But while she was thinking that, her vulpix suddenly got back to his feet and let loose another flurry of snow, this one much more powerful; the pidgey flew backwards and landed in the dirt face-first before quickly hopping away.

"As my husband would say… you knocked it out cold!" said Blue, who was beaming at Lillie's success.

Lillie kneeled down and scratched her vulpix under his chin; he purred happily. "That was quite something for your first fight, little fellow- how'd you do it?"

"Lillie! Hostile at 12 o'clock!" shouted Blue, jolting Lillie back to her senses. She sprang back up and looked left and right before realizing the Pokemon was floating right in front of her; it was a magnemite.

"That's magnemite," Blue said. "It's part steel, so Vulpix's ice attacks won't be very effective!"

"Oh no!" said Lillie, now biting her own lip. "Maybe we should just try and scare it away?"

Her vulpix, seeming to understand, let out a high pitched roar, and to Lillie's surprise, the magnemite seemed intimidated and backed off.

"That… was actually a pretty smart move," Blue remarked. "Here, come out of grass for a minute, I wanna show you something real quick."

Lillie returned Vulpix to his poke ball and walked back towards Blue, a spring in her step due to her unexpected success.

"That's quite the remarkable pokemon you have there!" Blue remarked as Lillie exited the tall grass. "Bad luck running into a magnemite out here… They didn't used to even live in this area, I don't know where they started coming from… Oh, what is it now?" She said, suddenly turning around.

Lillie observed another woman in sporty red jacket and booty shorts running at them from the city, who had been calling Blue's name. She look worried.

"Hey! I remember you!" Blue said as the woman stopped in front of them. "You gave me my Vs. Seeker back when I was first starting my adventure!"

"Blue! You have to help us!" said the woman, who was so worried about whatever it was that she ignored Blue's icebreakers. "The mob who was around the harbor earlier is attacking the gym!"

"What?" cried Blue, her eyes wide with surprise. "What do you mean 'attacking?'"

"They have their Pokemon out and they're trying to break down the door!"

"Oh my GOSH!" Blue yelled. "Come on Lillie, let's get down there before someone gets hurt!"

"Oh.. okay," said Lillie, who was surprised that Blue was taking her with rather than ordering her back to the hotel room.

"I'm not worried about the gym trainers, " Blue explained, as the two took off at a brisk jog back into the city. "I'm worried about the mob! If they piss of the lieutenant… they're gonna have a bad time."

"Who's 'the lieutenant'?" Lillie asked, surprised to hear that something like a gym would have military personnel.

"Lieutenant Surge, the gym leader of Vermillion City," Blue explained, as they tore across the streets; now that the sun was down, it was far easier to get across the previously-crowded city. "He fought in the Civil War between Kanto and Johto that broke out a decade back. He calls himself 'The Lightning American' because he has a distant ancestor who was a war hero in ancient America! What was his name again? Gus? Granite? Grabel? I don't know, something with g."

"I'm not… sure…" said Lillie, panting to keep up, and also impressed that Blue could explain all of that while running.

"Here we are!" said Blue, skidding to a sudden halt.

Lillie saw it: the mob from earlier was crowding the area between the gym and the shore. But now, they weren't just yelling and waving signs; some of them had pokemon out in fighting stances. She recognized a machop and a skarmory, and an odd pink Pokemon which looked like a big slowpoke but with its tail being eaten by a shellder, but there were a few others that she didn't recognize at all, including a white, energetic ape-like pokemon with a red nose and plume.

And to her amazement, Blue, without batting an eye, walked right out in front of the angry crowd and began to speak.

"I have crisscrossed the region to talk to activists, politicians, business leaders, famous figures, and ordinary citizens, out of concern for the short-sighted approach the people of this great region have taken in regards to industrialism. But you, you care not about bringing glory to our cause; you only want glory for yourselves. You only want to feel as if you are powerful. But you have no power; you are a disgrace to those who care about this region and equality!"

Rest in peace, Lillie thought to herself, amazed at how harsh and cold Blue had suddenly become. She also noticed something odd; Blue looked as if she was talking to the ocean behind them rather than to the crowd. She wasn't meeting anybody's eyes.

"How could you say the things that you do!" cried a male voice from the crowd.

"You're a traitor for getting in our way!" cried a female one.

"You may think that you're so amazing, because you turn off your AC at night, or because you light your house with open windows instead of lights," Blue said. "So why are you angry with me? I've broken my back for this cause!"

Suddenly, an alarm bell went off in Lillie's head; the trainer of the machop seemed to be whispering commands to it, and the machop took off right in Blue's direction!

Lillie threw out her poke ball, and Vulpix popped out. "Stop that machop!" Vulpix did something Lillie hadn't seen it do; it created huge chunks of ice and threw them at Machop at high speed. The machop was knocked back into its trainer, leaving both on the ground.

Blue turned to Lillie, surprise on her face; Lillie saw that she had a poke ball in her hand ready to deploy. "That was great, kiddo!"

Suddenly, the doors of the gym slid open, and out came a hulking man with a blonde buzz-cut.

"HEY, ME AND THE BOYS WOULD LIKE TO GO HOME, IF YOU'D BE SO KIND AS TO CLEAR A PATH!" He shouted in a hoarse voice. For whatever reason, the crowd listened to him and began filing out of the area, the few trainers who had their pokemon out returning them.

He turned to Blue, as an odd assortment of musicians, mechanics, and well-dressed men with briefcases lounged out of the gym, talking amongst themselves. "This your crowd?" He asked to Blue.

"Don't insult me," she replied cooly.

The man, who Lillie could only assume was Lieutenant Surge himself, laughed a hearty laugh. "Thanks for helping out; these damn environmentalists have been nothing but trouble for our region!"

He swaggered off to join his gym cronies, but Blue simply stood there in the same spot.

"You did an awesome job!" Lillie said to her vulpix, returning him to his poke ball. She then walked up beside Blue; Blue was simply standing there with a blank expression, staring into the ocean.

"That was really brave of you," said Lillie, trying to break the tensed silence. "I don't think I could ever talk in front of a crowd of people like that!"

"It's not any more fun for me," Blue replied. "I can't bear to look into anyone's eyes; I'm worried that I'll see the face of some old friend, someone I trusted. Come on Lillie," she said, turning suddenly, her voice sounding close to breaking. "Let's head back to our room; I just kind of want to curl in under the covers and forget any of this ever happened today."

Lillie followed after her, privately thinking to herself that she had never seen so many different sides of the same person in one day.