Prologue: the Story so Far
My name is Ian Cartwright and I am alive.
That's not the best way to start this, especially if you haven't read my account of my exploits so far.
On that note, I don't blame you not wanting to go back and read the first book in the trilogy of my adventures. It's quite lengthy, and I wouldn't blame you at all if you picked up the tale right here. Those of you who are, however, familiar with the prequel (titled Saga of the Storm, for any interested) can go ahead and skip this prologue.
Newcomers, read on: I have quite a story to tell.
(-o-)
It started with a death.
My brother's death, to be exact.
I was going from my home in Hoen to Kanto, ready to start my Pokemon adventure in the birthplace of champions. My best friend Richard traveled with me, as did my older brother Matt. But Matt had ulterior motives for traveling with us: he was an agent for a secret group of individuals called the Hermes, assigned to protect a girl named Casey Ryne.
She was on the airship with us.
The person Matt was protecting her from was a man named John Rook, who was, as it turned out, rather closer than expected. He boarded the airship, destroyed it, and in the ensuing battle, killed my brother in cold blood.
With his dying breath, my brother told me that Rook worked for a radical environmentalist group called the Storm's Eye, and that it now fell to me to find and protect the girl, Casey, from their clutches.
With my life shattered, I swore to avenge Matt's death at whatever the cost by defeating John Rook in battle.
And that was where my troubles really began.
I spent a while tracking down the Storm's Eye. I sabotaged one of their bases, but it was clear that I wasn't making any real headway. And then, fate interceded. Well, maybe it was fate. Maybe it was just luck. Who knows? Anyways, by chance, Richard and I ran into Casey at the Celadon City Gym, where she was battling Erica.
After a rather confusing conversation, in which she tried to convince me I was not the Casey she was looking for, we parted ways again.
Feeling more lost than every, Richard and I made our way to Fuchsia City, where we were ambushed by to Storm's Eye grunts in retribution for my previous meddling. Luckily, our fight with the goons also drew the attention of Casey, who happened to be in the town at the same time for her gym battle.
Seeing the Storm's presence so close at hand, Casey decided to join our party. Safety in numbers.
We continued on to our next gym battle, unaware that we were being tailed by some genetically enhanced Pokemon controlled by the Storm's Eye. Only a few nights after we met her, Casey was kidnapped.
Richard and I, bound by a newfound friendship to Casey, sought out the Storm's Eye's safe house in Lavender Town. While we didn't find immediately, we did stumble onto the Storm's greater plan: they were capturing the Legendary Birds and harnessing them for some opaque purpose. Using the radio tower in Lavender, some Storm operatives captured Zapdos.
We followed them back to their base –a floating ring-shaped fortress called the Iris- and rescued Casey, along with the gym leader Sabrina, who had been held captive there as well.
Narrowly escaping from the Iris, and the recently returned Rook, we fled to Casey's house in Pallet Town. After a brief rest, and picking up Casey's grandfather's Pokemon (an ancient, powerful Blastoise named Sebastian) we moved on to Cinnabar Island.
There, we learned that the gym leaders Blaine and Koga had observed our actions and decided to give us some useful pointers. Our training ended rather badly though: Rook showed up, eager to finish us off to prevent any further interventions.
He defeated us, taking Moltres, which Casey had captured, with him. The bird was the final piece of puzzle for Rook; it was the catalyst for his takeover to begin.
Forcing the three birds to fight one another, Rook summoned and captured Lugia. He harnessed its abilities to form an extremely powerful weapon, with which he held the city of Viridian captive.
With the help of the champions, some gym leaders, and a few of my brother's fellow Hermes agents, we attacked the Iris. But not in time: to demonstrate his power, Rook destroyed the Pokemon League building. Casey and I then fought together, defeating Rook at the last moment, and it seemed as thought everything was over…
But there was a revelation: Casey discovered that her late grandfather had been the creator of the Storm's Eye, but Rook had taken over and perverted his dream. In an attempt to return to the Storm's Eye to her grandfather's original vision, Casey attempted to kill Rook. I couldn't let her do that, especially when she was too enraged to consider the consequences. So I knocked Rook of the Iris, leaving his fate to… well, fate.
Casey was distraught and left us, stealing an airship, to complete her goal.
And this was not our only betrayal: Tori LeTour, Champion of Sinnoh and alley in our recent fight, stole the recently captured Legendary Pokemon (thought Lugia had already been set free) for her own ambitious purposes.
Richard and I were awarded our seventh badges. We took a well deserved rest in the Orange Islands.
Realizing that the Pokemon League Challenge was only a few days away, Richard and I returned to Viridian quickly to claim our final badges. Richard got into the gym just in time to fight, but I was left outside. Luckily, a unique situation presented itself. Casey arrived, just back from her failed quest to destroy Rook, and offered to give me her final badge if I could defeat her in a battle.
I did, and Casey rejoined our team, but I was still bitter at her betrayal. My response to her return was not the one she had hoped for.
The three of us flew to Seven Island in Casey's stolen airship to compete in the League Challenge, which was taking place at the Battle Tower. My father came to watch, and the newfound distance between Casey and I slowly began to fide.
During my final match in the tournament, against Richard, Rook returned. He held Casey and the entire Battle Tower captive by threatening to crash an airship into it. His ultimatum was simple: he wanted a fair one-on-one fight with me. I accepted to save Casey and the other innocent people in the Tower.
This time, we were horribly mismatched. Rook defeated me without much difficulty, but we were saved at the last minute.
A mysterious man in black, riding my late brother's Dragonite, arrived and diverted the airship. In the meantime, Rook was arrested and taken to the Iron Island. Casey and Richard and finally became safe… or so it would seem.
But there are still questions: what did Tori do after her betrayal? Could she still be at large? And is Rook finally out of the picture? Are we free to just… get on with our lives?
Yes, that's the most important one: are we done now? Is this it? Is it over?
No, quite frankly.
As you will soon find out.
