The World of Pokemon.

A world in which humans and pokemon live side by side, train and fight together, and coexist in mutual respect and harmony. This is a world that hasn't been a reality for thousands of years, known now as only a historical period referred to as the Age of Humans.

A world populated only by pokemon, with the humans having been cursed by the pokemon gods and transformed, where legendary pokemon rule over all the lands. This, too, is a world long gone, known as the Age of Legends.

At the beginning of this new era, the gods all vanished, and with them, their curse. Pokemon who were descended from humans gained a vestige of their ancestors' previous forms back, in the form of the ability to shift between human and pokemon. In the absence of rule, the lands were divided amongst 18 monarchs, each representing one of the pokemon types. For the past 999 years, these monarchs bickered and fought between each other, attempting to wrest control while simultaneously keeping each other in check, and in doing so creating a volatile peace between the domains.

For 999 years, pokemon have developed a semblance of the human society of old. And now, at last, as the sun crept over the horizon, it shone down on day one of the thousandth year of the Age of Monarchs.


Pierre crept as quietly as he could manage through the alleyways between the buildings. In truth, he probably didn't need to be quite so careful, as the drums and fireworks and cheering laughter worked wonders to mask his presence, but he never knew just how much the mayor could sense.

Today was the first day of year 1000, certainly a cause for celebration. It was also, as far as Pierre was concerned, the first day of his life as an adventurer. The adventurer's guild was the coolest, most awesome guild in the world. Adventurers were the most noble, brave, strong, and generally badass pokemon in the world, and Pierre was determined to become one.

He had promised the mayor that he would wait until his 18th birthday before setting off on his own, but he was only nine months away, and when you think about it, if you don't include weekends, nine months is basically only six months, which is only two seasons, which is practically three months, which really is only like 10 weeks, which may as well be 7 weeks when you take out the weekends again, which is basically only a month and a half, which is like really only a few weeks, so… Surely he was close enough, right? He'd been training nonstop, and was already fully evolved. If a level 45 Toxicroak couldn't make it to Kyber City on his own, then he truly wasn't cut out to being an adventurer.

Pierre could almost see the edge of town now. Just a bit more, and he'd be in the clear. If only the streets weren't so crowded with partiers and merrymakers, although they were also just the distraction he needed to get past the watchful eye of–

"Sora!"

Pierre froze as he heard someone call the mayor's name. In the street behind him, a man with lavender hair stopped to greet the resident who had called him. He wore a slim pink turtleneck under his white coat, with pink pants to match. Around his neck hung a round ruby reminiscent of the gem nestled in his forehead when he was in his Espeon form. He looked to be only about 40, although most of the villagers suspected he was much older. Pierre hadn't realized the mayor was so close, and was hoping it was only a coincidence.

After a few moments of bated breath, it became clear that Sora hadn't noticed him, and once he was fully drawn away from the entrance to the alley, Pierre continued on his way. He might regret not saying goodbye to anyone, but at the same time, it just felt right this way. Pierre stood on the edge of town, marked by a low wooden fence, gazing out into the forests that barricaded the little village from the rest of the world. Then, with a deep breath, he hopped the fence.

Pierre had barely made it past the first tree when he heard a voice behind him say, "Pierre."

Turning around, he wasn't at all surprised to see Sora standing on the other side of the fence, his hands in his coat pockets.

"Don't try to stop me," Pierre said defiantly, although he knew the Espeon could if he wanted to. No matter how much stronger Pierre got, he could never seem to beat the mayor. He supposed that was why Sora was the mayor.

Sora looked at the fence between them almost ruefully and said, "It's too late for that now, anyway." Then, looking up at the young Toxicroak, he said, "Do good things."

Surprised to be receiving the mayor's blessing, it took Pierre a moment to respond. After shaking off his stunned shock, Pierre broke into a grin and said, "I will!"


Author's Note

If you're seeing this and wondering where the rest is, it's still in the oven. Is it jumping the gun to publish the prologue before I've written anything else? Yeah, probably. But I work best when I feel a sense of "no going back," so this is to ensure I actually write this damn story. Also to sort of test the waters and relearn how this site works, since I haven't published anything on it in eons (and nothing on this account so don't bother checking).

Anyway, hope you stick around and enjoy :)