The universe of Pokemon offers a unique experience to us all. Delving into it at any age, and in any form, will lead to into an imaginative realm where battle, adventure, and glory are yours for the taking.

There, you walk out of your door, greeted by the morning sun and a crisp spring breeze. Your hand strays to your hip, just to reassure yourself of the pokeballs mounted there. The creatures within are everywhere in this world, but the ones at your side represent the strength of your willpower. They represent a deep bond and connecting point between the ambition of the human species, and the wondrous power and ability of Pokemon.

You will be eligible to begin your life journey at the age of ten, should you choose the path of a combat trainer. This is a tradition that has been passed down as unwritten code for countless generations in your culture. On that day, you are legally able to take your life, and your destiny into your own hands. To set out on a voyage of personal discovery. You feel as though you already grasp the nature of human kind, the deep seated need to strive and to succeed. You felt the pull at your heart in your youth, the jealousy which welled in you with each successive generation of children heading out ahead of you. You eagerly desired the fanfare, the celebration, the proud support of your friends and family. You felt as though you could never fail to achieve your dreams.

You catch your first Pokemon at the age of seven, a lone Phanpy wandering in the scrub grass along the coastline. You had carried that pokeball with you every day for two years, since the day your father promised you that if you could catch a Pokemon, you could raise it as your own. Now it was time. Alone, and with waves of anxiety coursing through your body, you stand mere meters from the Phanpy. It is young. Barely a year old, but it seems confident in its solitary wandering. It is feeding off the greenest of the sparse grasses, looking out over the breaking waves in the distance. You ready the ball, and approach it with the utmost caution. Only a meter away, it swivels its head to look at you, as if it had been aware of your presence since your arrival. It brays loudly, narrowing its eyes and turning toward you, aggression clear in its body language, and paws at the sandy soil in preparation to charge.

Your momentary hesitation costs you as the Phanpy lunges with unexpected agility, your backward step resulting in its thick skull connecting with your stomach. You taste the acidic tang of vomit, and feel your stomach empty its contents as the impact forces the breath from your lungs. As your rear hits the ground, your instinctively raised arm fails to shield your face in time, and the Phanpy is too swift. It has constricted its body into a sphere, and collides with your face.

So near now to losing consciousness, as blood runs freely from your broken nose and busted lips. Your vision begins to fades to gray, the distant waves are drowned out by the wild pounding of your heartbeat in your ears. You are butted again, and are roll limply onto your side a few feet from where you previously lay. Somewhere in the depths of your heart, you somehow believe that you're not going to lose. That this isn't frightening. That the pain is not enough to make you quit. This Phanpy is a baby, and already it has become incredibly strong. THAT is the strength you've dreamed of, the power you've always prepared yourself to harness.. You can sense it fully now, the Pokemon's commitment to battle, its fighting spirit burning brightly, so much so that you can see it through the blindness of bruised eyes. As it nears you in its fourth charge, your hand finds a piece of driftwood to your right, and your fist clenches before you swing it with all the power you can muster. It connects with the Phanpy's forelegs while its head is lowered, and it is barreling forward at full speed. To your surprise, you hear an angry cry, followed by the sound of spraying sand as it topples forward. The tumult is ended with an audible, fleshy snapping sound.

You force yourself to roll onto your stomach, and then push yourself onto your knees. You fight the throbbing ache in your skull, until at last your eyes slide open. The young Pokemon is laying on its side, its front left leg limp and twisted to an unnatural angle. Its head hangs backward, and its breathing is labored. Even in your youth you realize it is seriously injured. Its neck is broken, and its knee disjointed. You stagger to your feet, spitting a bloody tooth into the grass and lumbering toward your defeated foe. It rolls a stunned eye toward you, flinching as it tries to move. You don't show the same hesitation twice, and the ball is already in your hand. With a flash of crimson light, the Pokemon is wreathed in a pulsating glow before it dissolves. There is no struggle, and the pokeball remains still in your palm. There is no gleeful shout, no outburst of joy.

The walk back into town is long and painful, but when you step through the automatic doors of the Pokemon Center, you are met by the rush of sterile, conditioned air and the scent of antiseptic. The desk attendants manning the reception area are upon you in seconds, and you collapse into the arms of the orderly who reaches you first. Your last ounce of strength is spent in placing the stained pokeball in his hand, and he laughs. He smiles. His half-understood words of praise echo through your mind as you descend into murky darkness.

You awake in a hospital bed, covered in bandages, and heavy in a foggy haze of medicated confusion. You did it. The memory fills your mind almost instantly. The battle, the blood, the sand, the victory. Phanpy. You captured it. To your left is a metal framed stand on which sits your pokeball, polished, wiped clean of your blood and sweat, resting on a neatly folded beige towel. Before your mother and father smother you with kisses, and erupt in a chorus of contending opinions on what you've done to yourself, you feel once more a palpable strength emanating from the ball. You know that your journey has now begun.

Donphan is confident as it stands by your side. The Jigglypuff and Vibrava that constitute the remainder of your team stand beside it, and you, at the point where Lilycove City exits onto Route 121. A wide stream of people of all ages, colors, and creeds pass around you. Trainers. Doctors. Soldiers. Farmers. Laborers. Some have journeyed far, some have spent their lives side by side with Pokemon working toward an economic or industrial future. Most have spent months or years on the winding roads, in the sprawling cities, and colorful towns of the country. Some have traveled the world, winning notoriety and wealth on the endless battle circuits and in the League competitions of this wide and wondrous world. Your journey began long before the week prior, when you marked the start of your tenth year, and began your lifelong quest in earnest. The hundreds of days and nights you've spent training with your Pokemon, the lessons learned and improvements made, those were the roots of your destiny. Those experiences will propel you through the trials ahead and the challenges you will face as you climb the ranks and conquer Gyms. When you face the Hoenn Champion, it will be this moment that you draw strength from. This is what you truly believe as you take your first steps into the future, with your team resolute at your side.

Sadly, within a year's time, these sprawling cities will be reduced to smoking desolation. The well traveled roads and scenic paths which connect the clusters of this world's civilization will be rife with mortal danger, and ferocious beasts that thirst for flesh. Within a year, the people which now walk past you on the road will have been slain, their legacy forgotten in the chaos of a world engulfed in carnage and destruction. They, like you, will lose everything they knew, and will be among countless lives washed away by the tides of violent change. You will perish, as so many shall, in the meeting of two worlds. Two ideals, two forces of will. In the fires of the Convergence, all will suffer, the mighty will fall, the weak shall perish, and the world shall be reborn...

POKEMON: THE CONVERGENCE