A/N: The following is a quick introduction to the Orre region and a recap of the events of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. For those who are already familiar with either of these, you are free to skip.
Orre, the region that the world forgot.
From its first settlement, Orre was never the most prosperous nor the most populated. There were no unique Pokemon species native to the region so researchers had little interest in it. It was nestled quite comfortably in the geopolitical equivalent of nowhere so it had very little presence in the world at large. Quite frankly you only went to Orre to either pay homage to the Mythical Pokemon Celebi, or you wanted to disappear because no one even knew Orre existed.
That is, of course, before the big discovery.
A team of geologists embarked on an expedition to the base of Orre's tallest summit, where they made a discovery that would change the region's future forever: a treasure trove of evolutionary stones, some of which had never been seen before! The news rocked the world, and suddenly the small region took center stage as foreign powers moved to possess the mountain's riches.
In those days, peace was a fragile thing indeed. The relationships between several countries were already stretched to the breaking point, and the discovery of a vast deposit of evolutionary stones was the straw that broke the Camerupt's back. Those stones would be a massive economic boon to anyone who possessed them, and the virtual non-existence of Orre on the political spectrum meant that almost anyone with the manpower and resources could take them. As a result, the humble people of Orre could only watch helplessly as their once peaceful region was shattered by the fires of war.
The conflict was ferocious, and casualties mounted as the armies clashed. Towns were destroyed, entire habitats and ecosystems eradicated. The once peaceful Orre was torn apart as the regions grasped for the stones. It wasn't until the Legendary Pokemon Ho-Oh and its beastly servants descended from the great mountain to placate the combatants and revealed to them the awful truth. In their rage and greed, the vast deposit was depleted. They had destroyed in a few short years the very thing so many lives were lost. With no reason to fight, peace was negotiated and the foreign powers pulled back their forces. Why waste men when the reason to fight had been lost? The mountain was rechristened Mt. Battle, to honor the fallen soldiers who gave their lives for so little. So the foreigners left, leaving Orre to its fate.
The damage to Orre was done on an unimaginable scale. The war had left many of the landscape as nothing but barren landscape. With ecological damage so severe, the native Pokemon had no choice but to migrate to greener pastures or die. The fragile society that had been fostered in Orre before the chaos had been shattered, as any form of order was demolished. The region became a bandit's paradise, where entire towns became overrun with criminals and crime lords reigned supreme. The only places left untouched was the humble village of Agate Village which had little wealth nor strategic purpose, and Mt. Battle, the holy place of Ho-Oh and it's Legendary Beasts. Without any incentive for foreign governments to maintain a military presence, the world simply left Orre to rot and fester as a backwater wasteland.
Perhaps it was this lawlessness that led to the birth of Cipher.
5 years ago, the complete lack of a dedicated police force in Orre resulted in the formation of the terrorist group Cipher. Cipher is regarded as one of the most notorious and dangerous criminal organizations the world had ever seen, having infiltrated the highest echelons of Orre society before being brought down. The secret of their success lay in their application of "Shadow Pokemon", Pokemon who through unknown means had their hearts artificially shut to become violent and unthinking fighting machines. By acquiring Pokemon that were stolen by another allied criminal gang called Team Snagem, Cipher was able to build a sizeable force of at least 40 Shadow Pokemon. Among those corrupted were the Legendary Beasts themselves, with some rumors circulating that the then leader of Cipher's ultimate goal was to capture Ho-Oh himself. Such power would surely have caused the world to fall under Cipher's complete dominion.
In the end, Cipher was taken down by one of their own. Disgusted with what he had seen, a Team Snagem member went rogue, stole a Snag Machine designed to steal trainers' Pokemon and proceeded to dismantle both Snagem's and Cipher's machinations. He managed to recover all of the Shadow Pokemon, including the Legendary beasts, purify them with the help of Celebi, defeated Cipher's heads, and even gained favor with Ho-Oh at the summit of Mt. Battle. With Cipher's leaders defeated and locked up, Orre breathed a sigh of relief as a relative peace returned to the land. Where the so-called "Bandit Hero" disappeared to, no one can say.
In Cipher's ashes, a new organization stepped up to the plate to stabilize the region. Calling themselves the Orre Restoration Foundation (O.R.F for short) they were dedicated to the restoration of Orre's ecosystems and bring order to the long crime ridden wastelands. Results were hopeful: crime rates had begun to go down, numerous criminal rings were busted, and wild Pokemon were sighted for the first time since the war. It seemed Orre was finally beginning to recover from its violent past.
But some things refuse to be forgotten.
In a stunning move, the cargo ship S.S. Libra was seized by a shadowy figure with the culprits identified as none other than Cipher itself. Reborn and reorganized under the leadership of Grandmaster Greevil, the organization proceeded to go on an even more daring campaign of terror. This time, more than 80 Pokemon were corrupted from the S.S. Libra. Not only that, Cipher embarked on even more brazen operations such as the siege of the ONBS HQ and the takeover of Phenac City. Worst of all, however, was XD-001, a mysterious Shadow Pokemon more powerful than any the world had seen. A beast so tainted, it was rumored to be resistant to any purification attempts. With XD-001 at their helm, Cipher seems poised to achieve the impossible; complete world domination.
As before though, another hero stepped forward to challenge their might. A young teen by the name of Michael, his father was a head researcher at O.R.F who developed not only a sophisticated purification chamber, but another advanced snag machine should Cipher ever show themselves again. Armed with his snag machine and accompanied by his faithful Espeon, Michael underwent his own campaign against the terrorist group: snagging and rescuing their Shadow Pokemon, dismantling the organization, and pushing them to their island fortress on Citadark Isle. Battle hardened, Michael enters the dark heart of Cipher to confront Greevil and put an end to their dark machinations once and for all.
But first, Michael must contend with Greevil's most powerful and faithful servant: the mysterious XD-001 itself.
A/N: Again, this is a quick reintroduction to Orre and a background to its history. The Orre games aren't as well-known as the core titles so I felt some introduction was needed for those unfamiliar to the setting. Again, you're free to skip this prologue if you're already familiar with the games.
I also decided to flesh out some of Orre's background to fit what we see in the games. You couldn't catch wild Pokemon in the first game Colosseum, so I made the setting a wasteland to reflect that. While Orre was made mostly of desert, there are at least some Pokemon series in other games that can survive in such conditions. To have such a barren wasteland with no resident wild populations is another beast entirely. I also made Mt. Battle a holy site because that's where you encounter Ho-Oh after reaching the top so I'd figure that place would be sacred to him and tied it in with the war backstory I was concocting. Also, the unique evolutionary stones refers to the Sun and Moon Shards, the items used to evolve Eevee into either Espeon or Umbreon respectively which only appeared in XD. They were included because XD and Colosseum lacked a day to night cycle like the core games. Finally, I'd imagine the war to be the same one Lt. Surge from Red and Blue participated in, so at least Kanto was involved and it was a good while ago.
Feel free to review this. It's my first fic so don't hold back.:)