[Pokémon] A Song of Ice (Beam) and Fire (Blast) | Rated: R

Many years ago, there existed a unified, grand region called Kaleni. The premier region of the pokemon world, Kaleni was noted for its lush forests and great variety of pokemon originating from many different regions. With its size and burgeoning competitive pokemon battling community, Kaleni was the ideal place to live. That is, until the great Civil War.
Many people had their concerns that the region was too large for one governing body, especially considering the largely differing ideals of the people within the two halves of the region. The northerners had no problem with pokemon battling and being utilized in important roles such as hard labor, while southerners looked at pokemon more as pets, and believed that harboring too strong a dependence on them would lead to catastrophe. As these issues heated up and the regions become more and more divided in their ideals, serious hate began to formulate between the people.


The straw that broke the camel's back was the election of Samuel Otto as the region's president. The former champion of the region, Otto was elected because of the efforts of those with northern ideals to prevent southerners from voting as much as possible. Despite over five million southerners asserting that they had voted, only about one million southern votes were counted, with the others considered 'tampered with'. With Otto firmly in place as the president, the southerners felt slighted.


It was at this time that prominent political figure Brian Judd would rise to power. A man who believed greatly in southern ideals, he was a key southern presidential candidate, but finished second in the primaries. A former gym leader, he had found his voice in saying that this slight from the northerners was the last straw, and that they needed to be taught a lesson. Although it went against his own ideals, he was able to drum up enough support for secession and was immediately named president of the new region of Kolia. The next step was to get back at the northerners, using the most destructive means possible.


Kolia invaded the remainder of the region of Kaleni, destroying entire cities and claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. Kaleni fought back and the two regions warred for years, seeing the death toll for the war touch the millions. In the Battle of Coasthollow, the bloodiest battle of the entire war, Otto and Judd decided to settle things once and for all with a pokemon battle. The two left to a secluded area and were never seen again. Losing both of their leaders caused the two sides to rethink the importance of their scuffle, and ultimately peace was negotiated. Kaleni rebuilt itself and was renamed to become the region of Garo, which has now seen roughly 80 years of peace but none of prosperity. Most of the general population lives in difficulty as their region continues to rebuild.

Of course, things are beginning to look up for Garo. The region's competitive community is beginning to thrive again, meaning more tourism, and thus more money and jobs going around. They have an esteemed Professor in Professor Raymond Quince, a former champion of the region. Unemployment is below 25% for the first time since the end of the war, and more trainers than ever before are earning all eight badges in their journey (meaning more potential competitive battlers). Although Kolia remains in great economic health since the war, Garo is finally finding their way back up.
​

It was a crisp, autumn day. The sun let off a gleam of light peaking just over the trees and onto Grandville Town. The Chatot sang to their heart's content as they did every morning, but this morning was different from all the rest, for this was the morning upon which Christian would turn fourteen.


A fair-haired, confident young man, Christian was the youngest boy of his class. Some of his colleagues had left for their pokemon journey over a year ago already. Despite his youth, Christian was one of the tallest kids in his grade, using his size to help protect the younger members of his grade from being picked on. There was Daniel, with his mop-like red hair and his crooked smile. Zach, who had an older brother that had left for his own pokemon journey a few years ago (the kids of the neighborhood tend to respect that as a sign to leave a kid alone), and Jason, who had been Christian's best friend for some time. These inseparable kids would rule the world one day, if their mothers were to be believed.


Their group was so well-knit that they had all waited until Christian became of age to all start their pokemon journey together. Now that day would finally come, and none of the boys could conceal their gaiety. They had informed their town's head PA (Professor's Assistant) a week ago that the four of them would be beginning their journey, waiting in anticipation to finally receive their starter pokemon. Christian dreamed of something tough, perhaps a Scyther or a Gyarados (he hadn't paid much attention in his Evolutions class, preferring to draw Arcanine, his favorite pokemon), while Daniel dreamed of a bird he could eventually evolve into a majestic pokemon, Fearow being his favorite. The boys woke up early that morning, got ready, and met up outside the town's Research Facility.


"Today's the day, fellas," Zach said in his nonchalant voice. Christian's mind was restless, so much so that he was barely able to sleep the night before. Eventually the PA emerged from the building with a large container.


"Hello, my name is Scott Fredrick and I am the head PA of Grandville Town," he said to the kids. "Jason, I believe we spoke over the phone last week." Jason nodded in acknowledgement. "Well, here I have four pokeballs containing pokemon that each of you will get one of." Scott opened the box and revealed the capsules. "This first one contains the fire-type pokemon Vulpix. Next we have Krabby, a water type. Thirdly there's the flying-type Hoothoot. And lastly is Dwebble, the Bug-Rock type. Decide amongst yourselves who gets which pokemon."


Daniel went immediately and grabbed the pokeball containing Hoothoot. No one objected, knowing his love of flying-types was too great for them to take this opportunity away from him. Vulpix was immediately the option that no one wanted, being weak to both Krabby and Dwebble. Christian had wanted Vulpix but after hearing Jason explain as much, had changed his mind. They had decided between them that Christian would get Krabby, Dwebble would go to Zach and Jason would get Vulpix (he wanted the challenge anyway). The boys went inside to register themselves as official trainers, received their complementary pokeballs, and each went to spend their last day home before leaving (although they would be back, as their town held the fifth gym in the region of Garo).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boys arrived at the train station as the sun was setting. "I can't believe this is actually about to happen," Jason said gleefully, a sentiment echoed by Christian. The train arrived and the boys boarded it, ready to make their way to the Aelville Town station, in the northernmost part of the region. The train was a reminder of the difficulties of life in Garo, filled with shop and mart workers that failed at their dreams to make their living as pokemon trainers or as members of the competitive community. Packed among the hard working people headed north were Christian and Jason, lucky enough to find seats together while their friends took another train car altogether. Also among the people was a nervous looking figure, dressed in a trench coat that was unbuttoned. One could see an image of a sun printed on his shirt if they looked closely.


The train was moving for about an hour now. Christian and Jason had long since fallen asleep, exhausted from a full day of excitement. They were rudely awakened when the train screeched to a halt too sudden to not raise suspicions. Christian, still sleepy-eyed, looked around at the men and women obviously displeased by the delay in their transit home, and failed to gain any insight as to what was happening. "Ladies and gentlemen, no need for panic here, the train in front of us has been delayed a couple of minutes," the conductor said over the PA system. "Just sit tight and we'll be moving in no time."


Christian looked up to the figure that had piqued his interest earlier. He had seemed fidgety, like he had somewhere to be. What had been promised to be a short delay stretched into nearly an hour, and the people on the train began to grow unruly, demanding answers. However, the doors between the cars of the train were locked, and everyone was forced to stay where they were. The train was stuck in a tunnel, but Christian could see the light at the end of it out of his window, glowing faintly. Christian just stared out at the light, until a much more powerful, blinding flash came about.


The train was jarred backwards from the impact of the blast. Men and women alike screamed, jarred from the attack on the vehicle. Christian looked at the figure, who stood up and threw off his trench coat. The figure reached to his belt and grabbed a pokeball. "Alright, nobody move!" the figure said. "Any sudden movements and everyone on this train is going to regret it!" The figure threw the pokeball to the ground, and out emerged a pokemon that Christian recognized as Ursaring.

​