Pokemon: Apple Red, Sea Green, Sky Blue

Chapter One (complete)

Chapter One:

Apple's Beginning

            The Kanto Region is a vast, island continent that is bordered in by mountains in the northwest, and ocean to the southeast.  Rich forestland, open meadows, and perilous mountain peaks were dotted with quaint little towns and large cities.  There weren't many cars, of course; Kanto was primarily an agricultural and technological region that relied on green energy and manpower.  It was important to many people to live in harmony with nature.  After all, the natural world could be a powerful and terrible thing when riled up, and moreover, many of its inhabitants were a part of the average human's everyday life. 

            This is pertaining to the Pocket Monsters, or, as they were more commonly called, Pokemon.  There were over a hundred different species, known and unknown, all in different shapes and sizes, with their own abilities.  Many of them lived in the wild, each occupying its own niche in its natural habitat, following its own behavioral patterns. 

Like humans, however, Pokemon were known to break these behavioral patterns from time to time.  They were for the most part, which might surprise some, sentient beings.

This made the Pokemon an object of study and curiosity to some.  But, most importantly, Pokemon lived side-by-side with humankind, working and playing together.

            Pokemon weren't just animals, you see.  They were highly intelligent and emotional beings.  Exactly how intelligent, well, that fluctuated depending on species, classification, etcetera.  The thing that matters is, Pokemon needed people, and people needed Pokemon.

            People even had a word for folks who spent their lives working with Pokemon, teaching them new skills and even pitting Pokemon against each other in competitions to discover the strongest, or smartest, or whatever:  Trainers.

            Many a young boy or girl were known to go on journeys with their trusty Pokemon by their sides.  It was the responsibility of their Pokemon, and other Trainers, to ensure the safety of those around them, including a special elite of peacekeepers: the Gym Leaders, and any Trainers who served under a specific Gym.  Once, the Gyms had been known as the Eight Guilds, but over time their position had become one of defenders and teachers.  Anyone who wished to grow stronger could challenge or join a Gym's crew.  But there were only eight Leaders in Kanto, and one did not just become a Leader for no reason.

That's just how it always was.

            The problem with that, of course, is that people didn't always play by the rules.  Kanto was beautiful and brimming over with wonder, but every light casts a shadow, and this was no different.  It hadn't been quite so long, and those who watched and waited were beginning to notice the inklings of an unprecedented darkness gathering in the edges of their world—something sinister and strange whispering from the recesses of night.

            For Apple, it started with a nightmare.

            It was dark and cold, all around.  Apple stumbled on, shivering.  She blinked back tears, whimpering, her feet crunching in the icy sand.  She was a little girl again, in a white dress that did nothing to shield her from the prying wind that ripped and her skin and clawed at the strands of light brown hair hanging around her face.  There was nothing around her but that endless blackness and the sand and jagged rocks that bit into her feet.

            And then there was a light.

            She turned around, a violent breeze tearing at her, making her dress billow backwards and her hair fan out behind her.  Her eyes went wide, reflecting the blue of the sea, for before her, the ocean spread out, and it was bright and crackling with sparks the popped and hissed and burst into showers of little lights like a thousand deadly stars.