PROLOGUE
At the height of what would come to be known as the Utilitarian Age of human-Pokemon relations, the Sister Queens ruled Pallet Domain in the Kanto region. In the wake of unprecedented agricultural yield resulting from the taming of tauros, they enacted an ambitious program of Pokemon research for human use. They decreed that all citizens of Pallet be given a creature companion whose development and uses were to be strictly documented in a mandatory yearly Survey, effectively multiplying the knowledge of Pokemon a hundredfold. Two decades into the program the results were beyond what even the ancient clan of Pokemon breeders, known as The Collectors, had anticipated—Pokemon not only had more to contribute to industry and agriculture than ever imagined, but their intelligence and companionability were captivating. The mandate established Pallet as the stronghold of innovation, with new uses for Pokemon—then known merely as monsters and creatures—being catalogued yearly. With each new discovery Pallet's economy grew, making it the envy of the neighboring domains and a hub of economy, politics and culture. But as Pallet prospered and shined ever brightly, it cast a longer and longer shadow over its neighbors whose admiration soured slowly and surely to resentment and ripened into jealousy.
CHAPTER 1
Sienna would have wagered that all of Pallet, human and monster alike, was gathered in leisurely disorder atop the bayside cliffs that afternoon. The event attracting the jovial multitude to gather on the lip of the steep southern coastline—adults seeking friends and neighbors to stand with and chat, the smaller children running in wild over the rocky terrain and the youths aged awkwardly in-between standing disdainfully apart –was the anticipated arrival of an envoy from Cinnabar Island. The ships floating elegantly in the harbor bore not only extravagant gifts to commemorate the opening of the Great Research Hall, an elaborate gesture of good will between monster and human now nearing the end of its nearly three-year construction, but the full royal Court of Cinnabar itself. The morning light had revealed the telltale scarlet sails on the horizon and as the news travelled inland, one by one the people of Pallet had abandoned their chores and streamed joyously to the cliffs edging the Bay to watch the ships drop anchor and begin to unload their precious cargo. If past arrivals were any indicator, the royal court would disembark with much fanfare and artful flamethrowing, and it was not a sight to be missed.
The sea air that day was strong and refreshing, giving life to the kites grasped in the hands of many youngsters—all red in welcome. It blew the smells from the vendors peddling steaming cups of stewed corn, popped corn and sweet, hot rice drinks over the festive crowd. The weather was still cold enough, coming in from the sea on the verge of spring, for all of those steaming hot treats to appeal strongly to Sienna, but she kept to her seat among the other Collector apprentices. They sat together atop one of the larger cliffside boulders, conspicuous in their white tunics bearing the royal seal of Pallet, keeping a conscious distance between themselves and the rest of the Pallet children. Set apart by their esteemed apprenticeships and residence in the palace, yet not true members of the royal court and therefore not welcome at the reception on the beach below, the exact social status of the Collector apprentices on occasions like these was hazy at best. Most, Sienna included, found it more reassuring to maintain a distance while in official attire.
Sienna herself was a simple girl aged fourteen years of average height, average weight and average build for the Kanto region, which was generally short and solid. She wore her hair—light brown like her skin—long and unrestrained, as was the fashion among girls of her age. She possessed an average intelligence and a generally even temperament if, as were many young people her age, given to occasional flights of fancy and the odd bout of self-pity. She was generally well-liked if unremarkable among the group of exceptional youth who comprised the student body of the Collector apprenticeship residing in Pallet Domain's royal palace. She earned average marks in all the academic aspects and scored but slightly higher in the hands-on and the practical. Of all of this she was aware and content. She took great pleasure in the thought of being "normal" and that was why her Starter was such an injury to her feelings of social security.
Beside her, keeping quite close and huddled against the strong wind it abhored, Sienna's Starter gazed intently at the ships bobbing gently in the Bay. Although they were still perhaps an hour away from unloading, its gaze had seldom wandered. She knew that it felt a strong affinity for Cinnabar which was home to creatures more like itself and it anticipated the disembarking of the royal envoy and the brilliant fiery creatures that would accompany it.
Among the wide variety of Starters in possession of the small group of Pallet Collector apprentices, Charmander was unique. It embarrassed Sienna to have such an unabashedly beautiful creature for a partner. Unlike the choices of her peers which reflected the practicality of farmer's sons and daughters, choices that, should they not be accepted into the ranks of the Collectors to which they were apprenticed, would still serve some agricultural or trade purpose. Pidgey carried messages, doduo carried people, sandshrew tilled fields…but what did a noble Charmander do with its tiny, dainty hands and awkward bipedal gait? It was not fast or strong; it could not bear great loads, could not cover great distances in a hurry. It was perhaps a bit smarter than the average monster, but that was all that could be said for it from a utilitarian point of view. And it could light candles. It was what was known among the apprentices, derisively, as an "ornament" such as what the royal family had—multitudes of creatures given as gifts from far and wide that adorned the palace grounds and gardens but served no purpose.
Charmander may have been an ornament, but it was by far the most beautiful ornament in the palace, thought Sienna when she wasn't feeling resentful. It had clear blue eyes like precious stones, smooth orange skin the color of the most prized fruit from the orchards, and, most conspicuous of all, the proud flame forever sprouting from its tail. It drew the kind of attention a self-conscious young woman wished to avoid, the kind that made her stand out from her peers, and for this she could not love the creature though she cared for it deeply.
For its own part, Charmander's thoughts on their partnership, or indeed on most things, were a mystery. It was obedient but never, as was frequently observed between other pairs, affectionate. If it did not insist on keeping her in sight or wear the charm she had given it as a gift, she would have thought it didn't care for her at all. The charm, in the shape of a flaming feather symbolizing 'bravery,' came from Pallet's Shrine of the Sun God Moltres. She had not chosen the gift herself but had received it as a gift in turn from one of the priestesses with whom she frequently spoke and confided to, Sister Rubine. It was this charm it was fiddling with, its attention momentarily taken from the still inactive ships, when it twitched suddenly and cast a glance into the woods that stopped some sixty yards from the edge of the cliffs beyond the assembled crowd.
The bright day cast such dark shadows among the trees that Sienna almost didn't see what had caught Charmander's attention. Where no one was looking a ponyta and rider were slipping along the edge of the wood. The creature's neck was covered neatly in overlapping iron plates, effectively smothering the flames that might have otherwise brought it attention; iron plating on its tail achieved the same effect. Sienna was suspicious but not alarmed for there were few in Pallet who possessed such a creature and even fewer who would patrol such a happy event. It was surely "The General Without an Army," the Captain of Defense, Azure Archon. She was known among the townspeople by the former title, for her true title came with no defensive forces to command. Pallet had not been to war in over fifty years, a fact which had never apparently settled in for the Captain. When the last true Captain of Defense retired, the upstart Azure Archon was appointed in an attempt to appease the restless youth who was otherwise making trouble in the court. She was a common and ubiquitous figure on the edges of the palace grounds, busying here and there astride her fiery mount and signature poochyena at her side—a patrol of one against an imaginary menace.
Charmander shared some sort of unspoken bond with Azure's ponyta, although they had never been observed to have met. Perhaps they had known each other on the volcanic landscape of Cinnabar before being taken to Pallet, or, more likely, they simply recognized in each other an ally of fiery spirit. Whatever the reason, it had made Sienna likewise aware of Ponyta's whereabouts and therefore of Captain Azure Archon, of whom she shared a dislike with the rest of the apprentices. The feeling was mutual apparently, and more than once recently she had, by virtue of Charmander's heightened awareness of the ponyta, caught Azure passing and regarding her coldly, directly. She never looked away when Sienna caught her looking, leading Sienna to believe that Captain Azure wanted her to know she was being watched. Sienna was not the most attentive student, but she was not a delinquent, either and it vexed her that she should be singled out for intimidation for no apparent reason. Demanding an explanation was well beyond her ability, however. She was merely a guest in the palace, and Azure was a blood member of the royal family, eldest child of Queen Blue. She could groundlessly intimidate whom she pleased. But it was getting old, and fast.
Presently Captain Azure slowed and stopped parallel with Sienna's seated figure and Sienna, unnerved when faced with an actual confrontation, made her gaze quickly wander back to the Bay as if she had merely glanced in the direction of the wood by chance, the back of her neck tingling. Before she turned her head she had caught a glimpse of the yellow eyes of Azure's Poochyena, perched glowering upon the ponyta's hindquarters. The exotic creature had been a gift from a Johto ambassador presented among an array of more appealing monsters. Since the day she chose it, it had stuck to her heels like a bony shadow, its face a perfect parody of its master's scowl. She felt both pairs of eyes checking her over, thinning her already thin resolve to avoid being provoked at long last. Her fist clenched around a clump of dry grass. Charmander turned away from Ponyta to eye its master with a cool curiosity. She felt the pressure of three sets of eyes waiting in expectation and she gripped the grass tighter, feeling the dry roots rip easily. She could see herself hurling the dirty clump a couple of ineffectual yards toward the tree line, imagined the look of surprise on Azure's austere face, imagined maybe a bit of admiration for her show of spirit.
She sighed in frustration, flipped the tuft over lightly in front of herself and clapped the dirt slowly from her shaking hands. Charmander's brief flicker of interest faded and it became once more absorbed in the boats dotting the harbor. When she was once again master of herself, Sienna chanced a peek into the forest and discovered Captain Azure had moved on with her mysterious rounds and the trees were once again simply light and shadow and, Sienna noticed now, the first of the new-green buds that heralded spring.