Story Notes:
Uploading here and on ff.net. I think some people migth like the setting and don't browse the ff.As far as i guess, disclaimer goes there, rigth?So, i'll add it there.Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Simple Life
LED. Light emitting diodes, as the name suggests, emit some amount of light when an electric current passes through them. Usually, they are found in radio clocks. This one was showing that the actual hour was 9.00. As expected, the morning sun's rays shone through the curtains, and one peculiar ray was lighting the face of the clock. One could say that the sunlight and the diodes were locked in a mortal fight, where the winner was the one with more candelas than the other. But nobody cared about it, as there were problems far more important than sun feasting over the bloodied remains of the defeated artificialities.
Other sunbeams illuminated the rest of the room. The room itself was quite mundane, something you could expect to be the place of living for a typical 18-year-old man. It was a simple four meters squared, carpet the same color as the wallpapers: light brown with no pattern. Plain. And simple. The rest of the room was also constructed with the same so-called "simplicity" in mind. A wooden desk with a laptop and an additional display connected to it.
And shelves with lots of books on them. Looking at the titles printed on the spines one could conclude that the sole inhabitant of this den was going to be a Medicinae Doctor. In the opinion of the one who lived there, with the economy turned in favor of trainers and coordinators, there was a large niche to be filled. A niche called 'humans who have less in common with Pokemon than trainers.' Also, it was also interesting, and profitable. Being a doctor, helping people, and getting money from it... A dream come true.
And finally, la creme de la creme. A bed with the denizen itself.
Joshua Williamson. 18 years old. Medium height, that is, one meter and seventy-five centimeters tall. Light build. Dark buzz-cut hair, a triangle face with hazel eyes, small nose and mouth. And pale skin.
He resembled a typical Mr. Nobody, someone that could go everywhere unnoticed and unremembered. The only bits of his presence that could be noticed were his clothes, and even they weren't so outstanding in any particular way. Just brown corduroy pants and a plain black t-shirt.
Right now, he was lying straight on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was hungry, as the war had quite effectively cut out the food supplies. Now, the end of summer, the time of harvest of rye and wheat, created itself a paradox.
An unfunny and, to tell the truth, a wrong-in-the-very-basics one.
Luckily, as he was completely uninterested in either becoming a trainer or coordinator, he had only one Pokemon, a cyndaquil named "Kyle", so feeding him wasn't problematic. Leftovers did the trick.
With the end of the summer, the university classes should have been coming closer and closer. But the medical academy of Jubilife City, where he had enrolled for his first year, had been shelled out. Luckily, in this part of Sinnoh the war wasn't so noticeable, and that missile, probably a stray one destined originally for the Canalave marine army staging area, was only a minor incident. If we can call such things minor.
***************************
Hour: 11.37
Joshua was petting Kyle on his head, thinking about nothing, mind empty, vision locked on the ceiling and hearing locked on the radio's news, which informed about the actual army's victories and called to support 'our' troops by buying war bonds. Same shit, every day. Nobody cared.
Then his cellphone began to vibrate. A text message.
"Come quick, stuff in shops, many people buying, food, dood."
The sender was another random person met in the university's hallway when submitting his entry forms. His name wasn't important at all, he even barely remembered the face, so in the contacts his name was under the "randompersonno7" label. After reading this, he sighed and spoke.
"So, Kyle, it seems we should stand up and go for it, yeah buddy?"
The cyndaquil nodded.
***************************
Jublife City, eastern suburbs. To the nearest shop that was still open, and would have that food mentioned in the text "one kilometer to the east, near the city's border."
After telling his parents about the SMS and that he would be back in a minute, he dressed himself and went outside. His mother was cooking something that smelled tasty and spicy. Luckily, the family's hidden stash of food wasn't running dry.
Yet.
The sun shone, bathing the city in light. The day wasn't as hot as it seemed, though. The air was... rather stale, as there was no wind. Other than that, it was rather beautiful, calm noon. Tranquility at its best.
Joshua walked slowly. It was either that there was enough food for everybody to get some, as some reglamentation laws had been put in effect, or not enough even for the few chosen ones who were there first. Never inbetween. There was no need for running as it was either automatic win or lose.
After a few more minutes of walking, it took Joshua one second to realize that the mob of people standing in front of the doors to the mall was rather furious.
"What do you mean, there is no more food?" shouted a few people in unison.
One clerk decided to answer this call. "We are sorry, you bought everything, maybe tomorrow will we have some more."
That thick mass of people began to shift furiously. Reasonable.
Obscenities were shouted. Many of them. Still reasonable.
Rocks began to fly in the air, bashing the windows to smithereens. Okay, less reasonable.
Proletariate shopping began. Anything that wasn't screwed solid to the ground was quickly stolen. Oh wait, some brought screwdrivers. Nobody cared that these things weren't edible, useful even, toys, newspapers, etc. They were, and that was the reason. And that is? Yes. Not reasonable.
But who expected hungry men to have reason? Nobody. And that was reasonable. And logical.
Hunger can make everybody go stray from the path of law. After all, biology itself stays in higher regard than society when it comes to basic, primal instincts.
But some decided to witness the events, not trying to indulge in the inane activites of the masses.
"See, Kyle?"
"Quiii..."
"Screw that. Screw them. Let's go on a small walk. Maybe there are some berries still growing in the forest near the Oreburgh gate?"
"Quiii..."
***************************
It's a short way between Oreburgh and Jubilife. From the supermarket to the cavern entrance would be about 7 kilometers. The first half of the road goes through the dense forest, which opens up to the mountainous wall where the Oreburg gate is. That onset of the Coronet mountain range itself has many jagged cracks and twists and caverns of all sorts, from shallow to long, deep dead-ends.
Now, Joshua was near the wall, looking for any berries. It was a hundred percent sure that almost everybody had the same idea, but then, some could be overlooked. As his mother had told him that the dinner wouldn't be ready for three hours, he had plenty of time just to walk and enjoy the scenery, with his cyndaquil hopping and walking beside him.
***************************
Meanwhile...
Hoenn missile silo no. 2 was literally boiling inside, despite the fact that the days there tended to be colder than anywhere else in the world.
"Somebody explain this madness."
"Ain't it self explanatory?"
"The war seems to be slowly burning down, so why..."
"You are an idiot."
"Watch your foul mouth."
"Up yours."
It wasn't the exchange of anger, but of confusion between two army men of equal brass, privates to be exact. Everybody else had also been left in the dark as to what was happening, and why. Two hours ago the President of Hoenn claimed the Defcon 1.
This had happened two hours ago. Now, the place had calmed down. Until...
The Communications Officer's voice boomed through the PA speakers.
"ALERT, ALERT, all men to their designated positions, NOW. Commander Pehler, to the command room, NOW. I repeat, ..."
"Oh God, what."
Nonetheless, not even a half of a wink of the eye had passed and he was in the main hub of operations, the Command room. The main officer, O'Connell, was there. He looked as if he was waiting for something.
"Sir, reporting for duty."
"Okay, stand still and wait."
The informal tone in which he spoke made Peter nervous and confused. Something big was going on. Something strange, unusual...
Ponderings about the possibilities were cut short by the Communications officer's loud, obnoxious in the unpleasant way voice.
"President on line 1. Security chain of trust confirmed."
The President's face was soon on the main screen. He wasn't talking to the Officer or Commander of this goddamn place only, but to all silos and submarines.
"Brave soldiers, the darkest hour has come. The Hoenn salvation committee has decided in favor of using our whole force to end this war, in our glory. Johto agreed to do the same.
"Our intelligence has detected a large commotion in the bases of the Kanto-Sinnoh alliance. We have to stop them, whatever they're doing.
"Therefore, I'm transmitting the launch codes and the targets. Those who want, pray now. And remember our anthem, "Of our holy seas." That's all. It's over.
"Release the Spearows and Pidgeys."
The face disappeared, and large tactical map reappeared again on the screen. Now, many lines were drawn, from the silo to various cities of Sinnoh and Kanto.
All that was left was the confirmation of launch. Two top people in the complex were to use the keys and their biometrics to arm and launch the missiles.
"You heard the President. It's an order. Do it."
"But..."
"DO IT. They are our enemies. They are going to kill you. You have to kill them first. Why am I saying this? You should know it. Or you don't, dissenter?"
In the army, there is no place for objections. Nobody objects. Ever. If they did, these structures would collapse in just one second. That's not what the army's for.
Silence clung in the air. The only thing that broke it was the Comm officer speaking the standard-procedure orders to the intercom, telling soldiers what to do. At the same time, officer and commander put in the keys, and turned them to the half of a twist.
Eye-resembling retinal scanners turned on and send a flash of light to already waiting eyes. Green LEDs blinked. And then keys were turned again.
Sirens began to blow, as the silos opened.
The first missiles began to cruise as their positions were updated on the map.
Sandgem, Jubilife, Oreburgh, Snowpoint, Veilstone, Viridian, Pewter, Celadon, Saffron and many numerous villages of lesser importance, possible army points of interest... These were their main targets.
The Comm officer began to announce. The voice was emotionless, almost robotic in nature. She was too shocked by the thought that these people in their homes were going to die. But, in the end, most of them painlessly. That somewhat calmed her, in a psychotic way.
"Hoenn missile silos no. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 confirmed the launch. Awaiting response from the no. 6 silo.
"Karaiva submarine fleet confirms the launch from their Galvana-class missile carriers. Halega submarine fleet confirms the launch. Harei, Arkeus and Deis fleets are readying themselves."
Many lines were added to the map. All lines were arced and directed form the Hoenn silos and the submarine fleets, Karaiva and Halega being stationed near Kanto Lavender city shores and the rest in various Sinnoh oceans to many various places of interest in Kanto and Sinnoh.
"Johto missile silos are active. Haley submarine fleet has launched the missiles. Kavu fleet is readying. 1st and 2nd elite aerial squadron lifted off the bombers"
Soon, there wasn't a single place in Kanto and Sinnoh to be free from being labeled as 'target'.
"ALERT, missile launch detection system detected launches from Kanto and Sinnoh. Calculating trajectories in three, two, one..."
The map changed as the 'one' counter was said.
Now, Hoenn and Johto were full of labels. Each said 'target'.
"Orre, Almia, Fiore and Orange Isles began to launch at each other. Intelligence classifying it as unlimited missile exchange."
Soon, there wasn't a place on earth to be free from being labeled in the most pessimistic way imaginable. 'Target.'
Pehler began to tear at his hair.
"Oh God what have we done oh God oh God..."
***************************
"So, Kyle, we're outta luck, huh?"
"Quiiii..."
"You seem angry, buddy, what's up?"
"QUIIIIIIIII!"
"Looking at the sky? Why? Same old boring blue, add clouds, so why..."
Unsure of his own words, he turned around and turned his gaze to the sky. Something was flying quickly.
One second later, he realized where he had seen that shape before. On the many "know your enemy" propaganda leaflets that were distributed almost daily. Sinnoh's intelligence got many things to tell the people.
It was a Spearow.
A Spearow-class thermonuclear warhead delivery intercontinental ballistic missile.
"Oh shit, KYLE, to the pokeball, NOW!" he yelled.
The cyndaquil didn't like being in the pokeball, but now, he jumped in without hesitation. One second later, red light enveloped him. Another second later, pokeball closed.
Joshua focused his mind on the small cave near him in the mountain's wall. And ran.
Seven seconds later, he got in. One second later, he hid behind a rock.
Two seconds later, and the world was bathed in blinding white light.Chapter End Notes:Word count �� 2241
I think I screwed up the past tenses here. As English is not my first language, I couldn't have correct all of them, so if you consider the grammar bad, tell me with the possible corrections, please.Edit: Corrected one small and one big mistake
Other sunbeams illuminated the rest of the room. The room itself was quite mundane, something you could expect to be the place of living for a typical 18-year-old man. It was a simple four meters squared, carpet the same color as the wallpapers: light brown with no pattern. Plain. And simple. The rest of the room was also constructed with the same so-called "simplicity" in mind. A wooden desk with a laptop and an additional display connected to it.
And shelves with lots of books on them. Looking at the titles printed on the spines one could conclude that the sole inhabitant of this den was going to be a Medicinae Doctor. In the opinion of the one who lived there, with the economy turned in favor of trainers and coordinators, there was a large niche to be filled. A niche called 'humans who have less in common with Pokemon than trainers.' Also, it was also interesting, and profitable. Being a doctor, helping people, and getting money from it... A dream come true.
And finally, la creme de la creme. A bed with the denizen itself.
Joshua Williamson. 18 years old. Medium height, that is, one meter and seventy-five centimeters tall. Light build. Dark buzz-cut hair, a triangle face with hazel eyes, small nose and mouth. And pale skin.
He resembled a typical Mr. Nobody, someone that could go everywhere unnoticed and unremembered. The only bits of his presence that could be noticed were his clothes, and even they weren't so outstanding in any particular way. Just brown corduroy pants and a plain black t-shirt.
Right now, he was lying straight on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was hungry, as the war had quite effectively cut out the food supplies. Now, the end of summer, the time of harvest of rye and wheat, created itself a paradox.
An unfunny and, to tell the truth, a wrong-in-the-very-basics one.
Luckily, as he was completely uninterested in either becoming a trainer or coordinator, he had only one Pokemon, a cyndaquil named "Kyle", so feeding him wasn't problematic. Leftovers did the trick.
With the end of the summer, the university classes should have been coming closer and closer. But the medical academy of Jubilife City, where he had enrolled for his first year, had been shelled out. Luckily, in this part of Sinnoh the war wasn't so noticeable, and that missile, probably a stray one destined originally for the Canalave marine army staging area, was only a minor incident. If we can call such things minor.
***************************
Hour: 11.37
Joshua was petting Kyle on his head, thinking about nothing, mind empty, vision locked on the ceiling and hearing locked on the radio's news, which informed about the actual army's victories and called to support 'our' troops by buying war bonds. Same shit, every day. Nobody cared.
Then his cellphone began to vibrate. A text message.
"Come quick, stuff in shops, many people buying, food, dood."
The sender was another random person met in the university's hallway when submitting his entry forms. His name wasn't important at all, he even barely remembered the face, so in the contacts his name was under the "randompersonno7" label. After reading this, he sighed and spoke.
"So, Kyle, it seems we should stand up and go for it, yeah buddy?"
The cyndaquil nodded.
***************************
Jublife City, eastern suburbs. To the nearest shop that was still open, and would have that food mentioned in the text "one kilometer to the east, near the city's border."
After telling his parents about the SMS and that he would be back in a minute, he dressed himself and went outside. His mother was cooking something that smelled tasty and spicy. Luckily, the family's hidden stash of food wasn't running dry.
Yet.
The sun shone, bathing the city in light. The day wasn't as hot as it seemed, though. The air was... rather stale, as there was no wind. Other than that, it was rather beautiful, calm noon. Tranquility at its best.
Joshua walked slowly. It was either that there was enough food for everybody to get some, as some reglamentation laws had been put in effect, or not enough even for the few chosen ones who were there first. Never inbetween. There was no need for running as it was either automatic win or lose.
After a few more minutes of walking, it took Joshua one second to realize that the mob of people standing in front of the doors to the mall was rather furious.
"What do you mean, there is no more food?" shouted a few people in unison.
One clerk decided to answer this call. "We are sorry, you bought everything, maybe tomorrow will we have some more."
That thick mass of people began to shift furiously. Reasonable.
Obscenities were shouted. Many of them. Still reasonable.
Rocks began to fly in the air, bashing the windows to smithereens. Okay, less reasonable.
Proletariate shopping began. Anything that wasn't screwed solid to the ground was quickly stolen. Oh wait, some brought screwdrivers. Nobody cared that these things weren't edible, useful even, toys, newspapers, etc. They were, and that was the reason. And that is? Yes. Not reasonable.
But who expected hungry men to have reason? Nobody. And that was reasonable. And logical.
Hunger can make everybody go stray from the path of law. After all, biology itself stays in higher regard than society when it comes to basic, primal instincts.
But some decided to witness the events, not trying to indulge in the inane activites of the masses.
"See, Kyle?"
"Quiii..."
"Screw that. Screw them. Let's go on a small walk. Maybe there are some berries still growing in the forest near the Oreburgh gate?"
"Quiii..."
***************************
It's a short way between Oreburgh and Jubilife. From the supermarket to the cavern entrance would be about 7 kilometers. The first half of the road goes through the dense forest, which opens up to the mountainous wall where the Oreburg gate is. That onset of the Coronet mountain range itself has many jagged cracks and twists and caverns of all sorts, from shallow to long, deep dead-ends.
Now, Joshua was near the wall, looking for any berries. It was a hundred percent sure that almost everybody had the same idea, but then, some could be overlooked. As his mother had told him that the dinner wouldn't be ready for three hours, he had plenty of time just to walk and enjoy the scenery, with his cyndaquil hopping and walking beside him.
***************************
Meanwhile...
Hoenn missile silo no. 2 was literally boiling inside, despite the fact that the days there tended to be colder than anywhere else in the world.
"Somebody explain this madness."
"Ain't it self explanatory?"
"The war seems to be slowly burning down, so why..."
"You are an idiot."
"Watch your foul mouth."
"Up yours."
It wasn't the exchange of anger, but of confusion between two army men of equal brass, privates to be exact. Everybody else had also been left in the dark as to what was happening, and why. Two hours ago the President of Hoenn claimed the Defcon 1.
This had happened two hours ago. Now, the place had calmed down. Until...
The Communications Officer's voice boomed through the PA speakers.
"ALERT, ALERT, all men to their designated positions, NOW. Commander Pehler, to the command room, NOW. I repeat, ..."
"Oh God, what."
Nonetheless, not even a half of a wink of the eye had passed and he was in the main hub of operations, the Command room. The main officer, O'Connell, was there. He looked as if he was waiting for something.
"Sir, reporting for duty."
"Okay, stand still and wait."
The informal tone in which he spoke made Peter nervous and confused. Something big was going on. Something strange, unusual...
Ponderings about the possibilities were cut short by the Communications officer's loud, obnoxious in the unpleasant way voice.
"President on line 1. Security chain of trust confirmed."
The President's face was soon on the main screen. He wasn't talking to the Officer or Commander of this goddamn place only, but to all silos and submarines.
"Brave soldiers, the darkest hour has come. The Hoenn salvation committee has decided in favor of using our whole force to end this war, in our glory. Johto agreed to do the same.
"Our intelligence has detected a large commotion in the bases of the Kanto-Sinnoh alliance. We have to stop them, whatever they're doing.
"Therefore, I'm transmitting the launch codes and the targets. Those who want, pray now. And remember our anthem, "Of our holy seas." That's all. It's over.
"Release the Spearows and Pidgeys."
The face disappeared, and large tactical map reappeared again on the screen. Now, many lines were drawn, from the silo to various cities of Sinnoh and Kanto.
All that was left was the confirmation of launch. Two top people in the complex were to use the keys and their biometrics to arm and launch the missiles.
"You heard the President. It's an order. Do it."
"But..."
"DO IT. They are our enemies. They are going to kill you. You have to kill them first. Why am I saying this? You should know it. Or you don't, dissenter?"
In the army, there is no place for objections. Nobody objects. Ever. If they did, these structures would collapse in just one second. That's not what the army's for.
Silence clung in the air. The only thing that broke it was the Comm officer speaking the standard-procedure orders to the intercom, telling soldiers what to do. At the same time, officer and commander put in the keys, and turned them to the half of a twist.
Eye-resembling retinal scanners turned on and send a flash of light to already waiting eyes. Green LEDs blinked. And then keys were turned again.
Sirens began to blow, as the silos opened.
The first missiles began to cruise as their positions were updated on the map.
Sandgem, Jubilife, Oreburgh, Snowpoint, Veilstone, Viridian, Pewter, Celadon, Saffron and many numerous villages of lesser importance, possible army points of interest... These were their main targets.
The Comm officer began to announce. The voice was emotionless, almost robotic in nature. She was too shocked by the thought that these people in their homes were going to die. But, in the end, most of them painlessly. That somewhat calmed her, in a psychotic way.
"Hoenn missile silos no. 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7 confirmed the launch. Awaiting response from the no. 6 silo.
"Karaiva submarine fleet confirms the launch from their Galvana-class missile carriers. Halega submarine fleet confirms the launch. Harei, Arkeus and Deis fleets are readying themselves."
Many lines were added to the map. All lines were arced and directed form the Hoenn silos and the submarine fleets, Karaiva and Halega being stationed near Kanto Lavender city shores and the rest in various Sinnoh oceans to many various places of interest in Kanto and Sinnoh.
"Johto missile silos are active. Haley submarine fleet has launched the missiles. Kavu fleet is readying. 1st and 2nd elite aerial squadron lifted off the bombers"
Soon, there wasn't a single place in Kanto and Sinnoh to be free from being labeled as 'target'.
"ALERT, missile launch detection system detected launches from Kanto and Sinnoh. Calculating trajectories in three, two, one..."
The map changed as the 'one' counter was said.
Now, Hoenn and Johto were full of labels. Each said 'target'.
"Orre, Almia, Fiore and Orange Isles began to launch at each other. Intelligence classifying it as unlimited missile exchange."
Soon, there wasn't a place on earth to be free from being labeled in the most pessimistic way imaginable. 'Target.'
Pehler began to tear at his hair.
"Oh God what have we done oh God oh God..."
***************************
"So, Kyle, we're outta luck, huh?"
"Quiiii..."
"You seem angry, buddy, what's up?"
"QUIIIIIIIII!"
"Looking at the sky? Why? Same old boring blue, add clouds, so why..."
Unsure of his own words, he turned around and turned his gaze to the sky. Something was flying quickly.
One second later, he realized where he had seen that shape before. On the many "know your enemy" propaganda leaflets that were distributed almost daily. Sinnoh's intelligence got many things to tell the people.
It was a Spearow.
A Spearow-class thermonuclear warhead delivery intercontinental ballistic missile.
"Oh shit, KYLE, to the pokeball, NOW!" he yelled.
The cyndaquil didn't like being in the pokeball, but now, he jumped in without hesitation. One second later, red light enveloped him. Another second later, pokeball closed.
Joshua focused his mind on the small cave near him in the mountain's wall. And ran.
Seven seconds later, he got in. One second later, he hid behind a rock.
Two seconds later, and the world was bathed in blinding white light.Chapter End Notes:Word count �� 2241
I think I screwed up the past tenses here. As English is not my first language, I couldn't have correct all of them, so if you consider the grammar bad, tell me with the possible corrections, please.Edit: Corrected one small and one big mistake