37Special thanks to my awesome Betareader MewMewExorcist: if this chapter is here is thanks to you.
It would be great if you would like to show her your appreciation and/or have a look at her stories too: u/3246323/MewMewExorcist
Prologue: 1961
The sun was once again at the end of its slow descent, and with it a deep orange curtain fell on the last act of the day. White clouds reminiscent of rosy candyfloss were illuminated by the blazing sky.
It was a beautiful sunset.
Buildings and streets were covered by the same colors, as if an able hand was painting all of Rome warm shades. Light would once again make way to the night. It looked extraordinary, a work of art lying in the sky.
But soon no one would care.
With technology advancing, men would no longer dwell on the beauty of nature. Still, that wasn't the point. A cobalt halo started tainting the sky, idly revealing the stars of the night. The gentle breeze kept flowing, while the air became more refreshing by the minute, leaving the sultriness of the day behind.
But no one would care. And the explanation was quite simple: 9 PM.
Every day at that time all of Italy would gather in front of the TV. Missing the Carosello was something inconceivable. This short and fresh program was considered the ideal way to conclude the day. Nevertheless that night there were people with other on their minds, something more important than Carosello.
Both the mischievous Luciani's kids were glued on the TV screen; mom and dad sitting in front of a weird radio that frequently emitted low moans. They were trying to tune it in to the right channel. A Telefunken "Jubilate" radio of the late '50s, really in fashion during that period, even if TVs were already a habit. Even in Italy.
That insistent electronic noise was coming from each house.
A multitude of radios was creating an unconvincing chorus while croaking trying to tune in, a real myriad even in 1961. Even the Luciani's neighbor, that old hag, was messing with her device, impatient to know more of this "news" that were monopolizing the Newscast. Nothing sure was known, nor something specific. No one was in the know of anything, even the almighty Newscast.
The only sure news on this "Meteor" case was about an object, maybe from space, fallen on an inhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. In the streets and on TV, the most popular theory was about an imminent encounter of the third kind: what could have been science fiction was now on everyone's lips. Aliens were on Earth.
Bullshit.
If a society so much superior than ours really existed, it sure would avoid us like anyone sane of mind would avoid plague.
But this argument was spreading among people. Men really talked a lot about this: someone revealed for the first time his experience with extra-terrestrial creatures, some couldn't believe a single word of all this and some just listened passively.
Just one thing was sure at that moment: 9 PM, live was starting.
bzzt-bzzt
Finally something could be heard, even if just barely comprehensive sounds. The buzz become lighter, revealing the final notes from "24 mila baci" and a few seconds later, the melody ended and the broadcasting commenced.
"Buona sera, I'm Massimo Valentini. Today the truth behind "Meteor" will finally be revealed."
Do Aliens really exist on Earth? And if so, what are their intentions?
"Shortly we'll start receiving the speech of Junichi Masuda, the expedition communication operator..."
The journalist started to wane, there were problems with the signal.
"Mister... Mr. Masuda will talk to the whole world in his language while our capable interpreter, Paolo Viale, will translate for you each sentence. Right after a debate on "Meteor" we will start with our special guest, Prof. Giovanni Schiaparelli, from Capodimonte's Astronomical Observatory. I wish you a pleasant listening."
Each family, each person that had a radio in the country, or even in the world, stood waiting for the news. Skepticism was everywhere, particularly in America. Twenty three years before in fact, Orson Welles, with a similar radio broadcast, "The War of the Worlds", convinced thousands of people to believe that aliens were attacking the Earth. Pandemonium. Who dared to blame who couldn't believe those extra-terrestrial theories?
Finally, announced in each country, a man started to talk in a language that really seemed to come from another planet. No one from the western side of the globe recognized those Japanese words. Little time had passed since World War II and the Nationalism spirit was still strong everywhere: basking in the glory of being the best country in the world, constantly choosing not to care for the others.
Nevertheless on the present day all the people in front of their radios did put that aside in favour of listening to some foreign man that was going to reveal something that, maybe, could very well change the world.
Oh well, actually they were just looking for gossip.
Sound tests concluded and a male voice, barely in his twenties, was emitted by the device. He sounded agitated.
Seconds passed and the interpreter started to talk.
"Can I? …Ok. Wednesday, 12th July 1961." the interpreter stated and a deep silence followed.
"Masuda Junichi's here, communication operator."
The young voice suddenly became solemn, a professional attitude now pervading him.
"Today is an important day," he said. "This will be printed on history books!"
The whole world was hanging off his lips, or better, off their respective interpreters.
"To…to think that everything started three years ago…all for a mouse, dead too, that a trawler fished by chance…" he laughed, a humourless sound.
New York, Moscow, Paris, everyone was listening, all the countries, utterly perplexed, were focusing on his words. Masuda seemed on the verge of an explosion, his emotion bringing a lump to his throat.
"A PURPLE mouse with… two huge red irises! And... incisors harder than steel?" The interpreter was unsure of his own words. "Scientists immediately begun to study it, but the body soon couldn't be analyzed anymore due to its decomposition. A regular decomposition."
"BUT!"
The shout gave a start to the audience closer to their radios; the guy's enthusiasm had reached its climax. Nevertheless the more the speech advanced, the more the audience was losing interest. People who turned on their devices wanted to listen about these mysterious aliens. Some believed so much in "Meteor" that they had put up some nice stories about it...swearing they were telling the truth!
Everything should care about the meteor! And about the extraterrestrial beings that used it as a spaceship...!
Was all this "news" about it a bunch of chatters on a rat?
The mass didn't want this; they needed more juicy news, real meteors! News useful to set up some chat at the bar.
Or maybe… Was the mouse an alien?
"BUT! If that tiny body was injured by external agents, it regenerated in an instant! Regenerate? But wasn't it dead? Yes, absolutely dead."
The less cultivated people had lost some words, but the main plot was clear: the whole world was listening to someone talking about a purple dead mouse, that didn't wanted to act like a dead mouse should.
A lot of radios were turned off due to the disappointment. All this hype for a bad joke. Part of the audience went back to their matters without turning off anything. They had to start talking about aliens... Sooner or later. That just couldn't be a bunch of rubbish... The interpreter's words were listened by a very small audience by now.
"Bypassing the earlier skepticism, we obtained funds for researching this mouse's homeland. Two years passed since the expedition started, and finally with this equipment we can start this live reportage... This island is incredible, the air and the water are the purest in the world and..."
The guy seemed to barely hold his tears. A lucky shot to be honest.
One of the few things that could bring back the interest of ignorant persons waiting for gossip surely is people crying.
Housewives stopped washing dinner's dishes for a few seconds in order to better hear the Asian guy's voice:
"Why should he cry?" This indeed was something that could be interesting for a chat with the neighbour.
With a slightly restored audience the broadcast continued.
"And…We were right! It wasn't a mouse, it was a new species!" Said the interpreter enthusiastically. "And it wasn't the only kind! Fishes, reptiles, birds… Hundreds of them! All undiscovered!"
So this was the sensational news: More animals on the planet. The housewives just obtained their answer: that nerdy guy cried for the scientific discovery. "Meteor" was just a name, there weren't any flaming rocks. And the new "life forms" were just some rats and birds. That's all, maybe important for someone, but nothing to gossip about with the first-floor old lady.
A few people continued to listen to the radio till the end of the broadcast. Maybe some who had nothing better to do or those who just wanted some company.
It all ended later, making room to advertising and the band of the moment: The Beatles. No debate started in Italy later. Or maybe just no one followed it. For better or worse, due to the enormous advertising, apparently every person was listening to the broadcast. And later bars and landings were filled by gossip about these new animals... The perfect introduction for the main dish: "The broadcast sucked!"
After that came government conjectures, secret plots, insinuations and all those complaints that all of us human beings love to make. People had what they desired - something to complain about. No gossip, no tear-jerking story: flawed topics are mankind's favorite topics.
Then, maybe because of lack of other gossip, this news was spreading like wild fire through the masses in each country of the Earth, charming more day by day. The tables were turned. Everywhere one looked, groups of people were fantasizing about these new animals. No one seemed to remember all those chats about aliens. Even those with stricter cultures started to surrender to their own curiosity, taking interest to this absurdity that was so odd... that could even be the truth.
In a couple of weeks people who had first turned off their radios began to listen to this news again. Curiosity and fear swallowed the masses that were persistently following the broadcasting on everyone's lips.
Time passed and the news became more real every day.
- Saturday, 22nd July 1961.
"The Base Camp is finally done. We called the island Kanto, in remembrance of our homeland, and this place Pallet Town. This place will be the palette we'll use to draw a new canvas of human's history." Now Masuda wasn't the only one to speak at the radio. The crew was certainly growing.
- Friday, 11th October 1963.
"We call these animals "Monsters" due to their appearance."
- Sunday, 17th November 1963.
"We're hiding in the Laboratory in Pallet Town after our discovery... The Monsters can change shape!"
Kids really liked this new "Shape-changing Monsters" thing, causing a lot of censorship. A good parent didn't want the little mind of his or her child to be at the mercy of this kind of topic. But of course the censorship did nothing: The whole world was talking about "Monsters". Dazed people, scared people, and skeptical people.
This "Monsters" topic was deep-rooted in society's core. In fact, lots of people were now trying to gain fame by offering their help to researchers in order to keep the creatures at bay. Lots of them were just in search of glory, others belonged to families with a strong tradition of raising and training wild beasts and making profits from their exhibitions in circuses. To domesticate one of these Monsters represented the best chance to display their circus name and sell some tickets.
Motivation aside, ships and planes started to leave towards Kanto Island, each of them full of "brave" passengers that, mostly, fled back to wherever they lived once they realised they had arrived in a savage and wild jungle.
The question spread across the masses: Was it really possible to domesticate these monsters?
- Wednesday, 25th December 1963.
"Today, on Christmas Day, two more assistants arrived here to help us managing the situation. They're from a Domesticators Family, Agatha and...- LEAVE THESE MONSTERS TO ME! LEAVE 'EM TO SAMUEL OAK!"
A sudden male voice had interrupted him. From the timbre, he was a man in his 40s, far too excited for one of his age. Bad decision: the whole world had labeled him as an impetuous without a chance of career. A small fry.
"Be silent Sam! They're recording!" A whispering female voice scolded him, maybe Agatha.
The broadcast restarted the same day.
- Wednesday, 25th December 1963.
"Incredible! The...hmm..."Trainers"? Caught two monsters and they're taming them!"
The broadcast was continuously in the show schedule, going on air multiple times per day, confirming the stance on "Monsters" topic. Soon enough these creatures' images were shown in TV shows too. For the first time people learned why they were called "Monsters" and, little by little, even learned to recognize those new creatures with proper names.
Whoever took part in the expedition was then a celebrity, and Agatha and Samuel had shown to everyone how easy it was to become famous in that way. The mass wasn't asking for anything else.
In the next two years people started to travel again to catch their own Monster hoping for fame, this time overcoming the initial fear in the name of success. This caused a worldwide phenomenon. Shortly after, Countries understood the vantages to create a connection with this new island that really seemed to host a, even if monstrous, "Chicken of the Golden Eggs".
- Tuesday, 9th February 1965.
"The Laboratory in Pallet Town is already a coming and goings of scientists. Samuel, the leader of a researching group, is trying to create a Containing Capsule for catching these Capsule Monsters."
Toys, plushes, and merchandise of all kinds spread in a few months alongside the new "trend" of catching and raising these Capsule Monsters that had become a ridiculously common practice on Kanto Island. To teach them how to conduct precise tasks caused enormous benefits to men since these creatures, with their endless powers, proved to be useful job helpers of the human beings.
- Friday, 25th June 1965.
"The Catching Capsules work perfectly! Spherical and fits in a pocket! No trainers won't use our pocket balls! The era of Pocket Monsters has just begun!"
And not a single trainer avoided using these spheres, the "Pocket Balls". Pocket Monsters were unquestionably a worldwide phenomenon that enriched the little island with inhabitants and money. With something like ten cities, and few hundreds of people, the life on Kanto was going great.
For the first time in history, to preserve the natural integrity in the place, even creatures with an opportunist behavior like humans decided to adopt a different policy for this pure region. Large portions of nature were declared untouchable and the enactment of laws that forbid the shipping of these creatures to other lands was considered a priority. The biggest causes of pollution were abolished. Exhaustion gas, motor vehicles and tarmac roads didn't exists on the Island. With this, the air was kept clean and the water crystal clear.
Even Pocket Monsters, pokémon in short, were getting used to their fellow occupants humans.
The friendliest of these curious creatures replaced cats and dogs as the islands family pets. Finding a job wasn't too difficult either: schools, gyms and various offices, both public and private, were springing up like mushrooms, which meant there was need of workers.
Kanto Island was now the perfect place to live in.
As a much desired holiday destination, Kanto Island wasn't just proud of a pure nature, but of the Entertainment of the Century too: "Pokémon Battles". Fight games between these creatures under their Trainers directions.
In an instant it becomes an irreplaceable business, a Sport, with spectators and fans.
There were many complaints from animal-rights activists. But everyone knows that when money is on the table, men gladly put aside morality. Luckily Pokémon had an incredible regenerative ability and in addition... they seemed to enjoy it even more than the audience. Like puppies fight each other for play so did Monsters. The only difference was the intensity of these fights, it could become pretty dangerous for those nearby.
- Thursday, 1st January 1970.
"This wonderful creatures charmed the whole world, a new sport is born and a new society too. A clean one.
But we're not here for this, are we? Samuel and Agatha are going to compete with many dozens of others Trainers for the title of Pokémon Master on the "Tournament" on the Indigo Plateau. I'm... proud of being part of the expedition."
The broadcast continued with the running commentary of the tournament.
On the bleachers and on the other side of the world everyone was following with interest the transmission, or waiting for the images that would have surely haunt every TV on the next day. Things like this were seen just at Soccer World Cups or at the Super Bowl.
Turning the tables, the impetuous Samuel Oak managed to make his way through at the Indigo Plateau, creating malcontent among the betters. Even Agatha, loved by the crowd both for her abilities and for her beauty, couldn't stop the rise of his companion.
Seven years had passed since his awkward introduction to the world, no one would ever say it but... there he was. Holding the Champion Trophy, with "Samuel Oak" engraved on the golden plate at the base, surrounded by his Pokémon.
- Friday, 2nd January 1970.
"I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHAT DAY'S TODAY!"
Impulsive as always, the new Champion opened that day's broadcast.
"I WON! I WON THE TOURNAMENT ON THE INDIGO PLATEAU...! Do you know what that means? I'll tell you...
I AM THE MOST POWERFUL TRAINER IN THE WORLD!"
An overwhelming happiness had possessed his athletic body. "I'M MAKING HISTO-"
"Enough Sam!" Agatha snapped, trying to hide her frustration at her loss.
"Take that microphone from Oak!" One of the researchers yelled.
"Argh! Hands off! What the...ah!"
There was a loud crashing noise, causing everyone to flinch away from their radios.
"M-my equipment..."
With this cheerful broadcast the prelude of the World of Pokémon was now ending. The day after, the crew of researchers went back to their families.
Ships and planes left Kanto Island, emptying the media-earthquake epicenter of the last decade.
Pallet Town then become just a normal place like others on the Island, without cables and sci-fi gears that infested the grass, leaving to the few inhabitants just nature and calm.
- Saturday, 3rd January 1970.
"Today, after 11 years of exploring, after discovering 148 new species, we leave the Island of Pokémon to go back home. We leave the future in the next generation's hands."
Question Of The Week
So... Pokémon in the real world, huh? AWESOME! If you would be free to choose one to keep with you... Which one would it be? :P
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