Hello, everyone. This is a remake of an old story of mine (that I think was worse as I was younger when I wrote it), this time set in a futuristic setting.
You may NOT want to read this intro if you'd prefer to find out what's going on in this world through the story (I'll make sure to bring everything said here up eventually). You may want to read this intro if you'd prefer to know what's really happening from the very beginning.
It is 2016. It's been about two decades since the Era of Young Champions. For the Nihon country, which is comprised of the four major regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh, these were Red, Ethan, Brendan and Lucas respectively. Under these four Champions, who are now in their 30s, the Nihon country has seen lots of development, mostly thanks to the help of Silph Co. and Devon Corporation (which has been absorbed by Silph) as well. The rest of the world is following suit, with several other Young Champions of other regions helping the cause. Saffron City is pretty much the center of the world, though.
The world has gotten rid of the monophasic sleep schedule that results in reduced productivity. Everyone follows the Dymaxion sleep cycle now, which splits each day in four parts (Morning, Day, Evening, and Night) lasting 5.5 hours, separated by 0.5 hour nap intervals. This means that 22 hours per day are now productive instead of about 16. Food has been standardized to an optimal kind of bread for each person that contains the exact nutrients they need for the next 6 hours and should be consumed as soon as they wake up. Crime rates are reduced compared to the old days, and everyone feels much more safe than before, in a technology-filled world where every person has a single data file with all their relevant personal information.
Warp tiles can now be used as full-fledged teleporters all over the world. Master Balls are now on sale albeit a bit too expensive for the average Trainer to afford, and same goes for Porygon and Up-Grade/Porygon2 sold by Silph (the Dubious Disc for evolution to Porygon-Z, not being trademarked, is a free download worldwide). Pokemon breeding has been improved with strong Egg Moves available to all Starter Pokemon, as well as an overall average stat increase thanks to a technique known as "IV breeding". TMs are more widespread as well, although their cost is also high. Thankfully, there are several TM libraries which contain all the TMs which Trainers can borrow for a few moments to teach moves to their Pokemon before returning them. New Trainer's Week was established to standardize the way new Trainers get Pokemon and pit them against each other so they can all grow in their early days.
The most influential people in the world seem to be those affiliated with Silph Co. and its international branches and are known as "Silphers". They have unique silver badges which are pretty much a VIP pass all over the world. The color silver has been associated with Silph as a whole because of the similarity in the words. Silphers are the most likely candidates for all seats of power in the world, be it political, Pokemon Champions, Top Coordinators or anything else.
The entire system may look like a utopia, but it is quite rotten in its core, as the Silphers are the ones that reign supreme while the rest of the world lives more humble lives, even though they are more luxurious than what it was like 20 years ago. To keep the masses sedated, the conflict between Battlers and Coordinators gets stirred up and 3 conflicting teams with HQs in Saffron are maintained; Team Instinct, led by Spark; Team Mystic, led by Blanche; and Team Valor, led by Candela.
Thomas Peterson is the son of a high-ranking manager in Silph's Saffron HQ, who is about to become a Pokemon Trainer this very year, alongside 5 other Saffron Silphers (and a few more non-Silphers) he knows full well, some friends and other rivals.
Recently there have been people debating against the system, but they haven't achieved anything important. It may only be a matter of time before they take action, though, and the fate of the world shall be decided once again from that point onwards. Thomas and the rest of his generation are going to be pivotal for the events that will unfold. His Pokemon journey shall be unlike most others…