Beyond the Adventure - A Pokémon Story

Chapter 12: A Whole New World pt2

                The fog in my mind lifts, and suddenly, everything is clear.  After all this time, all my burning questions have been answered.  Archie’s report explains everything, filling the holes that my own investigation has left.  Putting all the pieces together, I have learned that the whole reason for going to war was not religion after all, but power.  Religion was merely an excuse.  With the discovery of Origin Waves within Mt. Coronet, the Sinnoh government gained a tremendous amount of power, more power than any other regional government had.  This created a lot of tension around the world.  Nobody knew what Sinnoh would do with this power.  Sinnoh ended up closing their borders afterward.  Trade continued, but was highly regulated and restricted.  Sinnoh was very careful about what crossed their borders.  Immigration was impossible; nobody was allowed in or out.  As tensions grew, Sinnoh finally announced themselves ruler of the world, and through their power, they would maintain order in all regions.  Naturally, this did not bode well with others, but what could they do?  Sinnoh had much greater power than anyone else; starting a war with them would be a death sentence.  For years, Sinnoh reigned, imposing restrictions on other regions and benefitting from it.  For nearly two decades, this was the new way of life.

                This much I already know.  This is history, a history I was born into.  However, this report goes into further detail that I had no clue.  I am not sure very many knew about this, perhaps not even my father.  However, it sheds a lot of light on what went on back then.  The restrictions imposed on us by the now Sinnoh monarchy led to the creation of an underground resistance group; Team Rocket.  Team Rocket was led by a man named Lorenzo.  His vision for Team Rocket was to bring down the monarchy of Sinnoh and free the other regions from its grip.  These were done in non-violent ways, mostly relying on infiltration and spy techniques, gathering information, planting false information, and other covert operations.  Over the years, Team Rocket made gradual progress in loosening the political reigns of Sinnoh.  This helped ease tensions, but the people were still being choked with restrictive regulations and laws.  Then Team Rocket had a breakthrough; an operative managed to infiltrate Mt. Coronet and gather a sample of Origin Waves.  This success was the tipping point.  The sample was turned over to the leading company in science and technology, Silph, Co.  Unlike anything Silph, Co had ever seen, they immediately began research and experimentation with it.  Progress was tremendously slow, and Silph, Co. needed more samples.  They began to fund Team Rocket so they can collect more samples.

                One dreadful day, a Team Rocket operative was caught while trying to collect a sample.  He was tortured for information and unfortunately, eventually broke.  He was then tried and sentenced to death.  His trial and execution was televised globally to make an example and send a message; treason will NOT be tolerated.  Tensions skyrocketed, Team Rocket’s operations continued, despite Sinnoh’s warning, and Sinnoh began to send in its own spies.  When they saw the progress Silph, Co was making on their experiments, they enacted new laws, imposing stronger restrictions and harsher punishments.  Police raids were frequent, and many Silph, Co employees were executed without trial.  That is when the people of Kanto had enough.  They implored the Kanto president to take action against the overbearing Sinnoh monarchy.  At first, the president refused, stating there was no possible way they could ever win in a war against them and their powerful Pokémon.  However, when Sinnoh finally announced its threat to level Saffron City if experimentation did not cease, the president took a stand.  He announced that Kanto would continue to do what is good for the sake of their nation, no matter the costs, and would not take kindly to threats.  Sinnoh regarded Kanto’s stance as an act of war and attacked.  Without warning, they bombed Cerulean City and stormed through with its military.  They issued their threat once again; cease their experiments or they move to Saffron, Kanto’s capitol.  Again, Kanto refused and mobilized its military to defend Saffron.  Kanto did not stand a chance against the might of Sinnoh and struggled to hold them off.  The Kanto president implored Johto’s president to come to their aid.  Johto, in light of the attack on Cerulean, had made preparations in advance and was already mobilizing their troops to Saffron.  They also took a diplomatic approach, using their common religious beliefs to insist Sinnoh ceasefire and retreat.  Sinnoh refused and responded by sending its most elite forces to Awaji Island, Johto’s most treasured possession.  An untouched island, a Pokémon Paradise, home to many species, including rare endangered species, species that now no longer exist.  Sinnoh saw the island as not only a strategic position within Johto, but also the best way to hit Johto where it would hurt the most.  Johto had to pull many of its forces back to defend the island.  My father’s unit was sent to the island first to act as a buffer, until the main force could fall back from Kanto and mobilize to Awaji.  There, my father perished, defending Johto’s crown jewel.