This is my first fan fiction, so have mercy please. This is set in an alternative Pokemon universe, with a darker theme, there will be death and possible rape, and torture at some pointing the future. This chapter will primarily be an info dump/ setting up the world so I can get the basics out of the way. I work and do other things. I don't know how often I'll be able to update but I will do my best.
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It all started 20 years ago, pokemon grew tired of being enslaved by humanity and demanded their freedom and to be treated as equals. While some individuals happily agreed, the government as well as all related organizations and most citizens refused. Whether this was due to greed, dislike for change, or control I do not know, what I do know is that for the last 30 years, we have been fighting a desperately losing war. Humanity suffered greatly in the initial years, we had no real weapons and any military we had were heavily reliant on Pokemon, it was a bit difficult for the army to fight when its weapons turned against them. In that time Pokemon managed to steamroll many human towns and cities.
What they did with the humans they captured, well that is one of the main reasons the general populace is so fervently behind the war effort. While some are simply kept as slaves many more were killed, tortured, and raped…
Psychic Pokemon in particular have become well-known for the horrors they inflict upon their victims, some have their messed with until they are left as nothing but either a gibbering mess or simply a vegetative state. Others have their mind played with until they become subservient to their new Pokemon masters, sometimes leaving a part of their consciousness intact forcing them to watch their bodies do the Pokemon bidding while being powerless to do anything.
Because we had refused to live alongside them, we would live under them if at all.
Once humanity got over the initial shock and losses, and after hearing what had been happening what happens to those who were captured, we put everything we had into our new war machine, developing new weapons and technology to fight back, among which was new tech to protect against Psychic pokemon, kinda important seeing as they could easily crush your body with little effort, or play with your mind so you shoot your friends, it was done by studying dark type Pokemon due to their natural immunity. They created a neck-mounted device that is like a collar or choker, I don't know the details but it is called the Psychic interference collar, great name I know and it's not the most comfortable thing to wear. It doesn't even stop them from talking in our heads but it does enough to stop them from making me into their puppet and that's good enough for me, now if they could do something about the damn ghost types from phasing through walls and fortifications I would be happy, seriously there was one guy I knew he had gone to the toilets to take a leek and a Gengar come out the floor and got him, we had heard his screams and rushed to see what it was all about, only to catch the fucker sleeking back into the floor. Honestly, when you can't even go to the toilets without the risk of being attacked, it does wonders for a person's nerves.
Then there are the Armamentarium assault units, but everyone just calls them Armamentariums for short, bipedal machines that are controlled by a single pilot, this is done by allowing a neural connecting with the armour, it physically feels like you are the machine, the downside is that you feel phantom pain whenever the armour takes damage and pilots have been known to become comatosed if the armour is catastrophically damaged particularly if the head was destroyed. The standard size of an Paladin Armamentarium is roughly 12 feet tall, with a variety of designs for the purpose needed, a rough rule of thumb if it is a more blocky or boxy design it is more lenient towards defences or sieges, having greater defences and weaponry but sacrificing speed and maneuverability, overall it looks more stubby than their counterparts despite being the only a bit smaller in height. Speaking of counterparts the Valiant models tend to be 14 feet tall and have sleeker chassis, and tend to be lenient towards assaults or operations requiring more mobile combatants these configurations are the opposite of the previously mentioned designs favouring speed and agility (as agile as you can get in 12-foot tall hunks of metal) but as a, result lacking the heavy weaponry and thicker armour of the counterparts, this is the line Armamentarium I pilot. Truth be told we would have already lost the war if it wasn't for these metal beasts, more often than not infantry would rally nearby these giants knowing they had a slightly higher chance of making it through a battle near these machines, although not too close seeing as they tend to get hit… a lot, It is quite annoying.
As for the status of humanity overall, put simply we are losing, there are only 6 human cities, just 6 in all the regions, and even then they are constantly under siege.
They are called Shatternorth, the frozen city, consumed by blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, as a result, it makes it hard for all but ice types to drive.
Crystalrush City, a mighty natural fortress encased in a variety of minerals including diamond, was originally a mining town, its equipment was repurposed when the war broke, allowing it to almost immediately repel the early assaults.
Dawnhammer was the city that was originally responsible for outputting a large variety of industrial supplies, once the war broke out it was one of the many cities that were repurposed into producing arms and Armamentariums, it is also the last of the cities that fulfilled this role, as a result, it houses the largest military of all the remaining cities.
Then there is Glitterflame City, a once-beautiful city or so I am told, it was situated near Razerdome Volcano which once produced lava flows that drew the attention of tourists, as the fighting began the lava flow was altered to make a moat lava to protect the city, however, several months ago the Pokemon sieging the city came up with a plan that devastated the city, they had a group of Pokemon dig a tunnel from under the city down to the volcano's magma chamber, as a result, a large majority of the city was destroyed, survivors are still fighting in what's left of the city buying time for the civilians to evacuate however I don't expect them to last much longer.
Then there is Middlepoint, a massive metropolis that is in the same region where I am, as its name suggests it is at the centre of the region, while Dawnhammer boasts the largest army, Middlepoint has the largest civilian populace, and perhaps are just as deadly as the military due to the fact it is still full of criminals, gangs and other unsavory sorts, as a result, while parts of the metropolis have fallen the often unconventional and unsavory fighting style of these groups as well as the high bodies to throw at the enemy has made it extremely difficult to gain any significant ground, even then it is often not held for long. This place is responsible for outputting a large number of infantrymen as well as some Armamentarium pilots, however most prefer to recruit pilots from local populations.
And finally, there is Bitterbreak City, a gigantic ancient fortress city, built for an old war but retrofitted to fight our new foes, this is where I am stationed. The City is built with a star fortress design with an interior design laid out in a radial pattern within polygonal fortifications, as a result even if a segment of the outer fortress should fall, it can be sectioned off to prevent other parts from falling. It is essential that Bitterbreak does not fall due to the fact that it is pretty much the only city that can effectively grow large amounts of food which are often exported to other cities with great difficulty due to the fact the enemy controls the land, sky and sea, making it extremely hazardous at all times, more often than not entire companies, as well as a large contingent of infantry are deployed as escorts.
As for the Pokemon hierarchy, it is generally based on how intelligent they are, some of the lower-intelligence Pokemon such as Mightyenas and Staraptors are little more than cannon fodder, they reproduce quickly and don't exactly have the brains for complex thoughts, although they can still be communicated with by other Pokemon. Then there are common foot soldiers such as Sableye or Gengar they are capable of thought and some innovation, however, they can not be relied on for any complex planning. Then there are their more advanced soldiers such as Blaziken or Ceruledges that are capable of advanced fighting techniques and some degree of planning, often leading small battle groups. Then there are the commanders and or leaders usually consisting of Psychic Pokemon but not always some exceptions are Pokemon like Lucarios for example, who are capable of tactics that rival or even surpass our greatest tacticians. However, unlike or oh so brave leaders who sit behind desks while we fight and die, their leaders can often be seen on the battlefield.
As for who I am, my name is Arcathos, and part of the Ninth Armamentarium company of Bitterbreak City, each company consists of 100 Armamentariums, usually split into 50 assault unit variants and 50 defence unit variants. I was inducted into this company at a very young age, so young I don't remember my life before the company, why so young you ask, apparently it's because our minds can get adjusted to the neural links with our Armamentariums, apparently when they were first brought into service the Armamentariums would drive their pilots mad after a while, not sure why but apparently that's what happened, so our younger minds are more acceptable to whatever effects it has on our brains. They also decided to tweak our bodies a bit for some reason, why? I have no idea however the results are that we are slightly stronger, faster and have better endurance and perhaps the most important part better processing and reaction speed than the standard human, they could get away with this because our young bodies were more willing to accept the changes forced upon them. Of course, no one knows what the long-term effects on our health will be, or so we are told, so that's a comforting thought.
Now then this is my story in this God forsaken world.