Light in the Dark
Prologue
The Journey of Unity
"Grandpa, the other professors are ready." The old professor turned around and smiled. His face was worn and wrinkled from years of study and research. His grandson, Gary, had grown into a handsome young man with the same spiked brown hair and determination in his eyes. After becoming champion of the Kanto Region Gary came back to help his grandfather at the Pokemon Research Lab in Pallet Town.
"Good, good. Gary come help an old man will you?" Gary's grandfather, Professor Samuel Oak, asked. Gary immediately ran over and lifted his grandfather. Gary helped him walk into the conference room. Professor Oak looked at the faces of his researching comrades on the telephone screens that they were using to communicate. Professor Elm, the professor of Johto Region with his round, thin glasses and light brown hair that was slowly going gray. Professor Birch, the enthusiastic young researcher from the Hoenn Region that was also growing in age but still had a bright smile on his face as professor Oak entered the room. And lastly was Professor Rowan of Sinnoh Region whose face was also drawn and wrinkled but he still looked as serious as always.
Gary led his grandfather over to his own chair and sat him in front of the rest of the professors.
"Professor Oak, good to see you again." Professor Elm said smiling. The other professors nodded and said their hellos.
"Thank you. It has been too long my friends. Now, onto the reason as to why we're all here." Professor Oak said settling in.
"Yes, we got the blueprints and information on this project of yours, but it only went so far. What exactly is it that you have planned?" Professor Rowan asked. Professor Oak turned to Gary. Gary nodded and opened a binder he had with him. He pulled out a laser pointer and remote. He clicked the top button on the remote. The lights in the room dimmed and in the middle of the room a hologram of the four regions appeared.
"I'd like to direct your attention to the hologram in the middle." Gary said.
"It's the four regions that make up the World of Pokemon." Professor Birch said and the other professors nodded.
"Yes, now as you all know the four regions are, as you said, the foundation of the world of pokemon. Now as you all know trainers from all the regions get their first pokemon in their respective regions and try, if they wish, to face the gym leaders and then eventually challenge the Elite Four and Champion of their regions. After this they are free to return to their homes, but as I'm sure many of you have noticed, more and more trainers are beginning to travel overseas to the other regions to continue their journeys.
"Before, this would have been no problem, more trainers chose to remain in their own regions, but as time has gone on more and more trainers are traveling which is causing some disturbances worldwide. Ferry services have tripled their rates, pokemon habitats are being disrupted due to increased travel and it is becoming almost impossible for trainers without the money to travel at all.
"That is why, Professor Oak and myself have designed a device that, with your help, will in a sense push the four regions together creating a mass region that we plan to call Kahonoh. If we can get your help with this project we can make this a reality." Gary took a breath as he finished explaining. Professor Oak looked at his grandson and smiled. Gary smiled back and then turned back to the rest of the professors. They all looked deep in thought. Professor Elm was the first to speak.
"Wouldn't moving the regions together involve shifting the tidal patterns of the ocean?" He asked.
"Yes, but we have prepared for that as well. You see we already have people who are prepared, if we get the ok from everyone, to move any pokemon who may be affected by this sudden change and then help them afterwards to adapt to their new surroundings. We're going to try and keep the habitations as close to the originals as possible. As far as we know with the information we have gathered the pokemon should be able to adapt quite rapidly to this change, much faster than humans even." Gary explained. He pressed another button on the remote changing the hologram to look like the tides of the ocean. He clicked another button and then the tides started to flow.
"As you can see the tidal patterns as we know them right flow around the regions like so. Now if we move the regions together the tidal patterns will slowly turn and begin to flow about thirty degrees off their normal path. We saw this as a problem ourselves due to the change in tides affecting weather around the world." Gary explained.
"And let me guess, you have a back-up plan to this as well?" Professor Rowan asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes we do. You see the most change is going to happen in the surrounding ocean between the regions. With the regions moving together the tidal patterns between them will be wiped out completely. In a couple of experiments that we held to make sure our findings were conclusive we discovered that this will actually counterbalance the tidal changes in the other oceanic areas causing no major affects at all besides a few summers that may be warmer than others. All of these situations are to be expected though and we're prepared to face whatever challenges we may face." Gary concluded. The professors looked at one another and again fell into deep thought.
"Well said my boy." Professor Oak whispered to Gary smiling.
"Thank you grandfather. Most of it is your research though so I couldn't have done it without you." Gary smiled back. Finally the professors looked back up at Gary and professor Oak.
"How long do you think this project should take to reach its full potential?" Professor Elm asked.
"Through another round of experiments we have determined the time it would take in order for the actual regions to meet is approximately between fifty to one hundred years." Gary replied flipping through binder pages. The professors all gasped completely shocked.
"So long? None of us, not even you Gary may even be alive to see the changes come through! We'll never see the final product!" Professor Birch exclaimed. The other professors started to argue and agree. They all wanted to see this through till the end, but time left no exception. Finally Gary had to put his hand up to silence everyone.
"We understand, but to make the project run any faster could potentially cause worse effects than we are ready to deal with. The longer it takes for the regions to come together the more time people and pokemon have time to adjust. We also would like to at least try and keep this project secret for as long as possible so as not to frighten the people. The further we can get in the project without public knowledge the more we can do." Gary explained.
"I'm not exactly keen on keeping this project a secret from the public, they have a right to know. It is their homes and well being that could potentially be in danger." Professor Elm argued.
"You're right, we weren't very keen on the idea either, but it is really the only way we can see this project through. Like you said, many of us will be old and maybe even dead before this project even ends." Gary pointed out.
"Yes but what about the other generations?" Professor Birch asked.
"Well you-"
"We are doing this for the other generations." Gary was cut off as professor Oak suddenly stood. He tapped his cane on the ground calling attention to himself.
"The generation of trainers that we once knew is dying out. Young trainers are starting to lose interest in traveling due to the increasing inability to do so. The trainers of today are becoming older and growing up faster than the newer trainers we need. And even then more and more trainers are preferring to become breeders and coordinators than actual trainers. The amount of trainers entering gym battles has decreased by almost 50% and that is affecting gym leaders as well. It would be a betterment for everyone to have this project come through. We aren't doing it for money, or glory, or as an experiment. We are doing this for the generation of trainers to come." Professor Oak sat down winded from his speech. The professors looked at him and then to each other. Professor Oak had a valid point. The amount of trainers coming through the regions was decreasing slowly. If it continued, then pokemon training would be all but wiped out.
"What is the point of being a pokemon researcher, if there are no pokemon trainers to teach and help grow?" Gary asked. The professors looked at him and small smiles crossed their faces. Gary smiled back. That had pushed them over the edge and right into the palm of his hand. The experiment was going to be a success, he was sure of it.
"So do you agree with what we are planning to do?" Gary asked placing his hands on the desk in front of him. The professors looked to one another and smiled.
"I professor Elm agree."
"I professor Birch agree."
"And I, professor Rowan, agree." Gary smiled brightly as the professors all agreed. He turned to his grandfather who smiled.
"We're on our way gentleman, to a bigger, brighter future, for all pokemon and their trainers."
* * *
It had been almost two hundred years since that day when the professors all joined together to create what they believed was going to be a bigger, brighter future for the new generation of trainer, and they were right, for the most part.
As Gary had said the actual tidal patterns had indeed balanced each other out causing no real effects to the rest of the world. Pokemon were moved to new habitats that matched their older ones by nearly 90% and the world seemed to be in a perfect state. No one noticed the movement of the regions until almost forty years after the initial project began. At first there was an uproar from the people for not knowing what was going on, but that was quickly stifled by Professor Gary Oak and his companions Professor Elm and Professor Birch, the only remaining members of the initial plan.
Soon the world started to accept what was happening. Anti-movement activists quickly sprang up, but besides a few minor issues, no real threat was made by the activists. Since no real changes occurred, the world remained as it was, happy and carefree as if nothing in the world could go wrong, but how wrong they were.
It wasn't until five hundred years after the project was started and was finally completed did things around the world started to fall apart. Areas that were once warm and sunny became dull and freezing. Areas that were often wet all year round fell into deep droughts. It wasn't until a new professor, Professor Allen Oak (Gary's great-great-great and so on grandson), discovered that the reasons behind the sudden changes were because of the pokemon themselves, and not just any pokemon, but the legendary pokemon of each of the regions.
The pokemon of the four regions had begun to fight over their own land. With there being no real boundaries anymore it was not apparent which region would be ruled by which legendary pokemon. Soon wars between the pokemon, who at this time had begun to be worshipped like Gods, started and the world was falling deeper into chaos.
After almost a thousand years of constant fighting and battles, leading the world to turn back to its almost primitive state, a child was born in what was once known as the Kanto region. This child was born with an odd shaped mark on its forehead. The child was a boy, and his name was Lucis.
When this boy was a child he was visited by the Guardians of Kanto, or Gods of Kanto as they were also known, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mew, and Mewtwo. They told the boy and his family that he was the chosen boy of a prophecy written long ago. This boy had the power to unite the pokemon of all regions together and bring peace and serenity back to the world.
The prophecy was immediately sought after and the boy was eventually taught the proper way to unite the pokemon. After a long and arduous journey Lucis, who became to be known as the Father of Serenity, united all the pokemon of the regions and peace once again filled the world.
Soon, however, Lucis grew old and the thought of the world once again falling into chaos scared the people. They begged the Gods to help them. Mewtwo then descended upon the humans alone and explained that another child, with a mark like Lucis', would be born in another region. When this child was born they too would embark on the journey to unite the pokemon, for if they remained isolated, the world would again fall into chaos.
Long after the death of Lucis what Mewtwo had said became true, as another child was born with the odd mark on their forehead in the Johto region. This girl, Lyse, was met by Lugia, who warned her also of her duty to the world. Lyse trained through her childhood to be the next saviour of the world. However, part way through her training, Lyse fell ill to an unknown disease, and died shortly after. With no other saviours, or priests and priestesses being born the world suddenly fell into chaos once again.
Soon the pattern of the priests and priestesses being born was picked up by everyone. When a priest or priestess finished the journey the world was full of peace and unity, if not, the world would fall into chaos again.
However, in the Hoenn region, it was discovered that the only way the priest of priestess could finish their journey was if they used the red and blue orbs of Kyogre and Groudon. By using their power to combine the two orbs a new stone was created and that was used. The only problem, was that if a priest or priestess was not prepared for the journey and attempted to use the power too soon, the power would backfire on them. The training for a priest or priestess of Hoenn was a lot longer and stricter than in other regions, but once the priest or priestess was prepared, the journey usually went smoothly compared to others.
After thousands of years of journeys our story actually begins much later on, when the world has finally been released from its primitive state. The year is 2009, two thousand and nine years since the initial project date and the world has finally returned to its more modern lifestyle. The Journey of Unity, as it had become to be known, was still continuing and uniting the pokemon was beginning to grow easier and easier with each passing year.
As Professor Oak and his grandson Gary had said, the amount of trainers did increase soon after the Journey of Unity began and once again the world of pokemon training was at its peak. Gym leaders opened their gyms once again, and new Elite Four and Champions were chosen in the northern (Kanto), eastern (Johto), southern (Hoenn), and western (Sinnoh) parts of the Kahonoh Region. Finally the world was back on its feet.
However, a new group of anti-movement activists was beginning to form. They would start in the southern part of Kahonoh and eventually move across the world gaining as many followers as possible. They would begin as a mixture of both the notorious Team Aqua and Team Magma that once ran rampant through Hoenn trying to destroy it. This new team, however, would be known as Team Ingressus and with their new leader, Requin, they would shape the history of the Journey of Unity and its outcome soon enough.
Our story, however, begins in a small house in Lavaridge Town located in the southern part of Kahonoh. In this house a mother is in labour with her first born child. Soon, the child would be born into the world with the strange mark on her forehead that everyone around the world had come to know. The mark would eventually fade, but not until everyone would discover that this young girl would be the next Priestess of Unity. Her name would be Lillianna and it would be her influence that would change not only the Journey of Unity but also the entire world as everyone knew it. Through her strength, compassion, and determination this girl, Lillianna, would eventually become the light in the dark.