All questions about the world, lore, will be placed in this chapter and answered by me.

Explanations and change logs will also be noted in this section.

Feel free to read, but be wary of spoilers.


Q: DarkBlackArcanine (On Deviantart) - "Wait...that makes no sense...Pokemon are cancer and they won't last because why?"

A:

I'll put this into a historical case:

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now since it remains the only use of nuclear warfare most of the effects of radiation that came from a wartime use stems from there and the Chernobyl Incident.

The experience of Tsutomu Yamaguchi and his children is where I draw my how and why of things to Pokemon dying out. As you should notice in Landwalker's Yellow Nuzlocke, it is revealed in the first part of ACT 2 that the number of Pokémon have reduced over the years to merely a 150 (or perhaps a 151?) in Kanto. The exact variance of species in each region of the world greatly varies, but for the case of Landwalker's Yellow Nuzlocke it is the original 150.

Anyway, onto my explanation.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a nijū hibakusha, in a direct translation from Japanese it is (double explosion effect person). This means he among with a remarkably unlucky group of Japanese during the waning days of the 2nd World War that experienced both the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Seeing as he survived both of the initial blasts, he was left to deal with the radioactive fallout and the black rain. With Japan's recovery after the war those afflicted by the bombs had to make a choice of if they could've been able to have children, let alone have healthy children.

Mr. Yamaguchi and his wife (also a survivor of Nagasaki) went for it and they had children. Children, as in multiple kids, three in fact.

Now this is where I draw parallels to Pokémon. You do not see evolution happen in one generation, instead it is a steady progression over multiple generations.

Mr. Yamaguchi lived until recently, in 2010 he died of stomach cancer. In life he was afflicted by, among other radiation-related illnesses, leukemia and cataracts and commendably voiced his opinion in nuclear disarmament as no man could've done before.

However it is his children that still confuses real life scientist to this day. In their youth they were plagued by sicknesses attributed with what is quite obviously their parent's experiences during the bombings and subsequent fallout. However as they progressed in life, they survived and lived normal lives as opposed to hundreds of other Japanese children born from hibakusha.

Along those lines, in Landwalker's lore a global nuclear war happened, so it is not outlandish to think that some animals survived and were heavily afflicted by the fallout all across the globe. It is also not outlandish to think that some of those animals gave birth to new generations afterwards, even with strange new mutations because of the fallout, some surviving in a bastard form of evolution.

Why do some survive and some do not? Many people say it is the special protein that resists what the atomic bomb did to Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi's DNA (Gamma rays shredding DNA apart). A gene called p53. As a guardian angel of your DNA it is crucial in the life of living organisms because it regulates our cell cycles, and thus acts as a tumor suppressor that stops cancer. This gene varies from person to person in effectiveness, Mr. Yamaguchi's p53 being potent (or lucky) enough that he and his children were able to side step a radioactive curse for the most part.

Now p53 kicks both ways in this case, both allowing Pokémon to become real, and also acting as a ticking time bomb that will gradually eat away at their cells as the radiation throughout the world becomes less and less prominent.

I understand I must sound like I am stretching it, but then again where I am coming from (Pokémon) doesn't leave much room for sensible science.


Q: "The only problem I see is that Noelle seems to be doing this a bit too easily. Luck is definitely on his side."

A:

Thanks for the kind words before that question.

I'll quote Cormac McCarthy on this in his novel about the hardships of the American West:

"It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way."

Think about that. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. I'm not going to say I've made Mikita to be the ultimate practitioner, but in this world, there's no other reason to join the military other than to get a piece of that pie. In a world born from war, where the populace tires of it and the scum and filth of pirates and raiders are chaff on the news, and where there only exists one mega government, there exists no other reason asides from getting away from one life. There's no nationalism, no evil commie or fascistic pig to pit your ideals and beliefs against. It's just survival. A way of life.

For nearly a decade, Mikita has been fighting. Fighting not because he was forced to or compelled to because of his nation or country, but because he figured it would be something he was good at. It's never gets easier to kill, but he is disillusioned, jaded, and nulled in terms of his attitude to kill.

Maybe I myself am not one to say, the only notches on my rifle are because of hogs, radically different than humans. But then again he spent a lot of time being broken down and brought up to be taught to not care about who he kills, and to worry only about the objective and mission imperatives.

He's not bloodthirsty or psychopathic. Maybe a a tad sociopath, but he's seen and done shit that exists in this mutated world.

If it seems easy to him, it's because it is. But then again all his contacts so far have been on his terms.

Trust me, he'll be beaten to shit as these two weeks in Guyana go on.


Q: Where is the point of division between this story's world and our world?

A:

I'll make a point and say that this is what I believe happened in Landwalker's world, and not necessarily what he has thought up.

Anyway, more history lessons: Rewind to October 1962.

It's the time of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall had just been closed, Vietnam is about to get hot, and Kennedy would be assassinated in the following year. Despite its name, the Cold War was the hottest time in history as of yet, the closest anyone would get to nuclear war without actually letting the nukes fly. The peak of this cold war is also where the river of time splits.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a military/political standoff in October of 1962 over the discovery of Soviet nuclear weapons on Cuban soil. In defensive reaction, the U.S blockaded the nation of Cuba just a little less than a hundred miles from American shores. However, disaster was avoided when the U.S and the Soviets found resolution in this agreement: The nuclear missiles on Cuba being removed in exchange for Western missile installations in Turkey and Italy being dismantled.

The 13 days that made up the Crisis was the closest the world ever got to burning, but it fortunately it didn't.

But what if the Cold War turned hot?

October 27th, day 12 of the event.

Soviet Submarine Б-59, a nuclear armed Foxtrot-class submarine was intercepted by the American blockade en route to Cuba in aid of the Soviet arm delivery operations occurring during the crisis. The USS Randolph and 11 destroyers intercepted B-59, dropping low-yield depth charges in an attempt to force the sub to surface for identification.

B-59 was out of contact with Moscow for days, and in the solitude of submarine life the entire crew of B-59 did not have knowledge of the events outside their submarine. Under these circumstances the crew of B-59 assumed that war had broken out, and nuclear tipped torpedoes were prepped for usage against the Randolph and its contingent. The only thing stopping the usage of nuclear weapons was the approval of every commanding officer on the ship, action only taken when all three officers were willing to do so. These men were Captain Valantin Savitsky, the political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and entire-sub-flotilla commander Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov.

The only reason why the nukes didn't fly was because of Vasili Arkhipov's disagreement to launch the nuclear torpedoes, nuclear war averted as B-59 surrendered and returned home to the USSR.

That one decision, that one vote that stopped total war between both nations, is what I determine to be the division point between Landwalker's world and this story's, to reality. If the flotilla commander had said yes, the nukes would've flown, the world destroyed and coated with radiation from ICBMs, nuclear missiles, neutron bombs, and hellish warfare.

That was in 1962. The time now in my story is 2325. That is over 360 years after that world changing decision happened, and for us in 2013, that is only 51 years ago. The world has changed so much in both versions.

And yet time flows forward, never stopping, never ceasing.


Q: Can Pokémon talk in this world?

A: I've kept it ambiguous.

'But how can Mikita teach Russian to Apollo?'

A: Turns out Pokémon got really smart/more ambiguity


Q: Is Mikita a self insert?

A: No. I couldn't hurt a fly. Though I could shoot a boar. Go figure. To say that he is a self insert is a lie, however to say that a part of me isn't a part of his is also a lie. Characters carry a part of their creator in fiction and can sometimes create a life of their own.


Q: This story is so good but why are there a lot of repeating words and errors?

A: Shhhh ;_;


Q: Where does this story fall in the timeline of the games?

A: Half a century before the 2320s, when this story takes places, the events of Pokemon Sapphire take place. Dotted between then and 2100s, are the events of Colosseum, Ranger, Platinum, Black and Black 2, and possibly X or Y. Ranger happened the most recently in relation to this story. For all intents and purposes, the Pokemon games chronologically happened in reverse. So yes, Team Aqua, Team Galactic, Team Plasma among others have come and gone. Team Rocket has yet to rise.