Author's Note
Many fans of Pokemon come up with all sorts of theories and ideas for how the world in Pokemon came to be. This is my version, although it is not as light-hearted as others might be. Why is that? The answer to this question is directly related my rating this story for older audiences.
This possibility of how the Pokemon world came to be involves a nuclear war. The very, very, VERY last thing I want is for some impressionable kid to show up and read my story and think, "Oh! Nuclear war must be good, since it leads to Pokemon! I want that to happen!"
NO. I want to underline that war is a horrifying, evil thing, and that people dying is not a good thing,even if what might happen because of it is good.
So you see, I wrote this not to brainwash little kids, but to warn people that our future is at some stake if something like this should happen.
Although the fear of a nuclear war was overwhelming at the time On the Beach was written, I owe due credit to the author Nevil Shute for the inspiration for this story. (On the Beach is both a wonderful and terrible story; it made me bawl my eyes out. It really makes you think.)
My final notes: I don't own Pokemon in any way; I want to thank my parents for reading this over first and alerting me of some scientific errors and grammar mistakes; and I hope that, like Nevil Shute, perhaps I can make you stop and think.
The Elusive History of the Pokemon World
This article was first presented in the science magazine "Johto Researchers Monthly." It was written by the previously little-known archaeologist Dr. Teijo Takamori, but his reputation in the science world skyrocketed after this article was featured. Yet, despite his efforts and his established persona among other researchers, his name remains relatively obscure to the mainstream.
Hello to my readers this month! I must confess that I have never written up my findings in this medium, much less have published them for the public to read. However, I believe that I have made one of the most influential discoveries of the century, thus is the reason I have conceded to submitting this article.
But what is this great discovery? First, I would like to address the International Institute of Pocket Monster Studies:
It has come to my attention that your widespread students are taught very little of our world's history and of our own technology. Rather, I've heard, they are taught in the common and rather blunt subjects of types, attacks, evolutionary statistics, and current customs of different countries. These are quite legitimate subjects; however, I must intervene slightly to express my dissatisfaction at the present condition of the overall knowledge your students have of this wonderful world of ours. For although most parents school their children at home, I believe that it is crucial to the progress of society to teach today's youth more about the world. We cannot always wait until they come of age to begin their journey of discovery.
I myself knew very little about Johto and Kanto until I was given the permission at last to become a trainer. Though at first exhilarating, battles soon grew too tiresome and too uncivilized for my tastes. Thus, my Manectric and I set out to toss aside customary trainer mandate and pursue the mysteries of the world.
And so I am today. Some time ago, my archaeological team and I were excavating in the humble northern country of Rekishinazo. We had received an extraordinary grant, and we had been digging there for several years. Most of those years, please note, were plagued by letters threatening to eliminate our grant if we yielded no results, for within our caves, we could find nothing.
Nonetheless, we continued our work, for we knew that Rekishinazo was one of the oldest civilized countries in the world. Nothing, however, had prepared us for the chest we found at the very bottom of one of our caves.
Inside we found neither pieces of eight nor ancient bonds. Instead, we found something more: another mystery. The trunk was empty save for a small, gray box-like object and some nesting Zubat.
My team and I were both exasperated and intrigued. While I studied the strange box object, the others dug further around the area. They could find nothing else, thus our grant as well as our dig was terminated.
The box article was no longer than my palm, and no wider than my thumb, yet I felt that there must be something extraordinary within. I consulted some antique experts, who helped me open the object—only to find an unearthly system of wires and cards. This was no box! This was some kind of computer chip, somewhat similar to what we have today.
But how had it been buried so far beneath the surface? I tried to access it with some modern computers, but to no avail. Then I used isotopic dating on the outermost metal component: it yielded the oldest results I have ever seen with my eyes or in any book. For this object was not only hundreds of years old; it was, in fact, thousands of years old!
This alone shocked me, but I was as resolute as ever to find out what was on this ancient card. Who had made such a thing, and how had it remained intact? I inspected the case, and I must admit that it too was formidably strong; I could not dent it or do any harm to the container. Clearly, this object came from a world far more advanced than ours.
My interest was piqued. I studied and worked with the object for many months as I lived off of my savings.
Finally, one day in late autumn, I managed to create a program that accessed the circuits. I was at last able to see what was inside this remarkable piece of handiwork!
There was a painstakingly long document saved onto the object, and I was forced to spend more time trying to decode it, for it used a myriad abnormal symbols. With some more hard work, I was able to read it.
It seemed as though whoever had written this epic of a document had intended it to be found later, for it was a detailed account of what had happened to our beloved planet in the ancient times more ancient than anything we have ever known before.
I shall paraphrase what I learned about our world's history from that one document.
Long ago, this planet on which we live now was called Earth. Its geography was far different than it is today, and humans lived almost everywhere except in extremely cold climates. There were no Pokemon there, but creatures called "animals" that had much more simplistic body structures than our modern pocket monsters. These animals lived beneath humans as a ruler would belittle his servants.
Although some animals were kept as pets, humans and animals rarely worked together like trainers and Pokemon. Moreover, humans on Earth cared very little about animals and the natural environment around them, and actually slaughtered and killed off thousands of kinds of animals.
Instead, humans paid attention only to their advanced technology. The forests around them were chopped down for resources, the oceans made murky, the soil made dangerously acidic and polluted, and the very air around them made hazy with poison.
But the humans scarcely noticed from inside their filtered, clean homes, where they would continue to work on their complex machinery.
Soon their technology was so great that they were able to send millions of humans into space in order to start a new colony on another, more plentiful planet.
For centuries, the colonists flourished on their new land. In comparison to Earth, this world was much like a paradise. Natural resources were plentiful and efficient. The humans studied the plant life and chopped the alien trees down as if the foliage had been from Earth. The creatures of the planet were few, and they kept to themselves in their underground caverns.
Their civilization grew and grew, even while they kept in contact with the home planet Earth. Despite their great technology, it took many years for the communication signals to be received on either end because of the vast amount of space between the two planets. The colonists and the Earthlings became more independent.
And yet, on Earth, chaos was breaking out. War, on one of the largest scales known to man, was upon the planet. Every individual country seemed to be pitted against every other on the planet in an appalling battle for power.
Foot soldiers were unnecessary; for each country had a store of something more deadly than anything we have in modern times: nuclear weapons. The world was locked in a winner-take-all competition; the larger, more powerful countries eliminated the weaker, smaller countries first, then the large nations attacked each other over land and petty differences.
The exchange of nuclear bombs went back and forth with unholy numbers of innocent casualties, and soon the bomb detonations grew larger and larger until every human being on the Earth was destroyed in a blast. Undue radiation from the nuclear weapons began to spread throughout the dead planet, infecting the hardy animals that had survived the explosions.
Because of the communication signals' delay, the colony did not receive notice of the Earth's war until the home planet had already been leveled. It was said that the very last signal ever obtained from Earth was this: "If only we had had eyes."
The colony continued to grow for many centuries. Although war did not break out, the people there could not help but follow in their predecessor's footsteps. They fell into a web they had woven themselves, for the colonists had polluted their planet. The trees and plants were long since gone, and the native life forms had perished and gone extinct due to the unhealthy condition of the soil. The planet might have been an empty wasteland except for the fact that it was not empty: the wilderness had been dried up and bore tons upon tons of trash, industrial waste, and rusted building materials. The air was no longer clean and wholesome. Instead, it had turned a cloudy green. Residents were forced to wear protective suits whenever they went outdoors, for the colonists' paradise planet had been even more badly polluted than Earth had been prior to the war.
The colonists knew that they could no longer live here, so they packed their bags and took a trip to the planet that had once been, so long ago, their homeland.
When they arrived there, they were shocked to find that Earth was bounteous and green once again. While there were no humans, there was an astonishing number of strange creatures. It was concluded that the animals had mutated under the influence of the nuclear radiation, and they were more hazardous than ever.
Some could elongate and control long vines that extended from their bodies; some could shoot high-pressure water from organs in their body that could store water; some had flammable saliva and could breathe fire; and still other creatures could use countless stratagems.
Yes, they were Pokemon, although they had not acquired this name yet. The colonists landed and settled into this new world. Nature was pure and uncontaminated, and the humans decided that they must prevent themselves from overusing Earth as they had in the past.
Thus they taught their children and their children's children to work with nature and the creatures of this world and never to exploit them. Instead, they were taught to thwart all those who hindered nature. The former colonists abandoned most of their technology and even destroyed their own ship that had brought them back to Earth—all in the name of living peacefully with the environment.
Technology-wise, the people regressed to ancient societies and resorted to customs old even for their time. But they lived in such harmony as they had never known before.
After the old generation passed on, newer generations hungered for tools once more, even as they lived with Pokemon. Their individual Pokemon friends grew in abundance over the years, and people sought to be with them everywhere—which was a bother, especially if the creatures were large.
Humans began experimenting with the old remains of technology that had not been completely eradicated. What they toyed with was something that produced high-energy lasers. Over time, people discovered that red lasers had the ability to compress matter and contain it within a confined area. White lasers, filled with energy, could reverse the effect and amplify the condensed matter back to its normal state without damage. Thus, early Pokeballs were born, and the term "pocket monsters" was coined.
The document ends here. It ends, however, at a point from which most people know as our own "ancient times." Countless centuries passed from that point onward, and, my fellow scientists, I know many of you are still searching for what happened in this incredible gap.
Nevertheless, no matter how long this gap appears to be, we now know something more of what happened in the unthinkably lengthy gap beforehand, which was formerly labeled as prehistoric. If you feel so inclined, you may contact me in order to read and study the full and terrible history of our world.
I must express that I consider the author of this document to be worthy of great respect. I do not know his or her name, for the computer was unable to decipher that part of the file, but I wish to confer my immense respects in this day by ending with his or her own concluding words:
"There were dark days behind us, and seemingly bright days before us. Dear reader, I hope you have both comprehended and heeded my words here, for no matter how much time has passed, I see that there will always be a danger around us as human beings. The threat issues not from our Pokemon or our understanding—rather, it stems from ourselves, for we as humans are destructive and irreverent. I have heard of evil times indeed. Reader, please regard the past mistakes and learn from them. It is just as they always told us before in the olden days: we are our own worst enemy.
"May there be bright days ahead!"